📖 Note: This article explains how Function Leads (users with Manage Squads who have been assigned as a Function Lead) can create Squads in a Function to best meet its Target Skills. This article requires some pre-requisite understanding of the concept of Functions on the FifthDomain platform. Please refer to this article first for an overview of Functions.
What is a Function Lead?
A Function Lead is a user appointed to be responsible for managing a Function. Function Leads create Squads within the Function(s) 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.
📖 Note: To be a Function Lead, you need to have been given the Manage Squads permission in your organisation on the platform. You also need to be explicitly allocated as a Function Lead for at least one specific Function in your organisation. Simply being assigned Manage Squads will not grant you Function Lead abilities.
A user can be a Function Lead of multiple Functions in an organisation at a time. Also note that a single Function can also have multiple Function Leads at a time, as set by the Org Designer.
📚 For more details on Squads, and how Squad Managers can view their Squad's profile, please refer to this article.
Navigating to the Workforce Page
To view a Function, you'll first need to navigate to the Workforce Page. To do this, click Workforce on the sidebar. You'll see a Functions button below Workforce. Click this to navigate to the Workforce page.
Viewing a Function
Once you're on the Workforce page, you'll see all Functions that you are a Function Lead for in the Function Dashboard section. Do note that if you are also an Org Designer in addition to being a Function Lead, you will see all Functions within your organisation. Simply click View to open a Function of your choosing.
📚 This article focuses on how Function Leads can create/edit Squads within their Functions. For details on how to read the Organisation Skills Profile section on the Workforce page (as a Function Lead), click here.
Navigating the Function Squads Tab
Reading the Top Section
Once you have opened a Function from the Workforce page, you will be able to see two tabs - Function Details [1] and Function Squads [2]. By default, you will be taken to the latter tab.
On the Function Squads tab, you'll see the following details about the Function at the top of the page:
Readiness Score [1] (Function-Level) - this is a 0-100 score that measures the overall readiness of your Function's cyber skills (based on individuals within the Function's Squads). The Readiness Score is the percentage number of total fulfilled Skill-Proficiency units out of total required Skill-Proficiency units for the Function.
Required Units [2] - this refers to the total number of Skill-Proficiency units required as part of the Function's Target Skills (as set by an Org Designer).
Fulfilled Units [3] - this refers to the total number of required Skill-Proficiency units in the Function that are currently being met by those in the Function.
Squads [4] - this is the total number of Squads that exist within the Function.
Contributing Members [5] - this is the total number of users in the Function's Squads. Contributing Members' skills contribute to the fulfilment of required Skill-Proficiency units in the Function. For a user to be a contributing member, they need to be added to a Squad as either a Squad Manager or Squad Member.
Your Function's Skills Profile
Below the top section, on the left of the page, you'll see the Function Skills Profile. The Function Skills Profile consists of a Cyber Skills Cortex showing the cyber skills of all contributing members in Squads within the Function you are viewing. Reading the Function Skills Profile is very similar to reading the Organisation Skills Profile on the Workforce page. However, the skills that populate in the Function Skills Profile are limited to the individual Function you are viewing.
💡 Remember: For a user's skills to contribute to a Function, they need to be added to a Squad within that Function. Therefore, only Squad Members and Squad Managers within a Function can be contributing members for that Function.
Also remember that within an organisation, a user's skills can only contribute to one Squad at a time. A user can only be assigned as a Squad Member or Manager for one Squad at a time. If a user needs to have their skills contribute to a different Squad, they need to first be removed from their current Squad.
Function Leads' skills do not contribute to their Function's or organisation's skills, unless they are also a Squad Manager or Member in a Squad.
When you first view a new Function, it won't have any Squads in it yet, so you won't see any skills populate in your Function Skills Profile. However, you'll be able to see the Target Skills that have been set by your organisation's Org Designer(s).
Understanding Skills Fulfilment Statuses
Each skill row in the Cortex that forms part of your Function's cumulative Target Skills will have one of two skills fulfilment statuses:
Fulfilled Skill (Current), referring to cumulative Target Skills that contributing members in the Function 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 the Function 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 next to each required skill name abbreviation on the Cortex. When you first view your Function (i.e. before you have created any Squads), all Target Skills will be unfulfilled, with a red exclamation icon next to them (because your Function won't yet have any contributing members).
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. 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 the Function has Opensource Collection (OC) as a Target Skill. Selected Functions require 6 x Skill-Proficiency units of OC as part of Target Skills. As there are no contributing members in the Function yet, you can see 0/6 OC Skill-Proficiency units hav been fulfilled.
💡 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 Function needs (in this case) 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. Function Leads 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 in the Function (across all skills) is listed above the Cyber Skills Cortex. In the example below, 44 Skill-Proficiency units are required in the Function.
Identifying Proficiency Targets for Skills
The target proficiency for a skill that is part of a 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 Function 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 AN has 3 x Skill-Proficiency units required across two target proficiencies - some units of AN are required at Level 1 (Novice), some at Level 4 (Proficient). Hovering over the AN Level 1 square triggers a tooltip stating that 3 x units of AN are required at Level 1. Because 3 units are required in total, this means the other unit is required at Level 4.
📖 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.
Filtering your View of Target Skills by Work Roles
You can also filter your view your Function's Skills Target by specific work roles. Simply click View Function Skills Target.
This will open a popup where you can see the names of all work roles that have been added to form part of your Function's Target Skills. You can also see the quantity of each work role that has been added.
Click All to view your Function's cumulative Target Skills (i.e. the Required Skill-Proficiencies for all work roles in your Function's Target Skills). You can also click a specific work role to view the Required Skill-Proficiencies of that work role.
Once you have made your selection, you can hover over any Skill-Proficiency square to see if that square is required of your selection.
Note that this popup only shows Target Skills - you won't be able to see Actual Skills demonstrated on this popup.
Creating New Squads in your Function
Once you have identified your Function's Target Skills, you can begin adding affiliated members into your Function to contribute skills. As mentioned, users can only contribute skills to a Function by being placed in a Squad in the Function. Simply click Create a Squad to begin adding contributing members to your Function.
Adding Squad Details
Before you can add users to your Squad, you need to add a Squad Name [1]. You can also add a Description [2] if you wish (this is optional).
Adding Squad Users
Once you have added Squad Details, you can starting adding users to your Squad. First, you'll need to add at least one Squad Manager - these are contributing members who can view the Squad's profile and manage training for those in the Squad.
You can Search by Name [1] if you have a specific person in mind you wish to add. Simply type a user's name in the input bar to filter your search. Alternatively, you can add Squad Managers by searching for specific skills they might have. Click Search by Skill [2] and type the name of a skill you wish to filter with. Select any users you wish to add (users will populate in the dropdown as you type), and then click Add Squad Manager(s) [3].
You can also add Squad Members (i.e. contributing members who can't access the Squad's profile) using Search by Name [1] and Search by Skill [2]. Simply click Add Squad Members [3] once you are done.
📖 Note: there is no limit to the number of Squad Managers or Squad Members you can add to a Squad. However, remember that users can only be added to a Squad if:
They are affiliated to your organisation, and;
They are not a contributing member to any other Squad in your organisation.
This means that Function Leads and even Org Designers can be added to a Squad as a Squad Member or Manager, provided they are not already in another Squad.
Users will not populate in the dropdown to be added to a Squad if they are already in a Squad in the organisation. If you want to add a specific user who is already part of a Squad, they will need to first be removed from their current Squad.
Each Squad must have at least one Squad Manager. However, Squads can have 0 Squad Members (as Squad Managers are also contributing members).
Finalising Squad Membership and Creation
All Squad Members and Managers added to your Squad will populate on the screen. You will also be able to see the top three skills of each individual added, as well as each of their assigned work roles (if any). You can click Remove [1] to remove any user from your Squad. Once you are happy with the membership of your Squad, click Create Squad [2] to finalise the Squad creation process.
Reading your Function Skills Profile (with Squads)
Once you have added a Squad to your Function, you will see it populate in the Squads section on the righthand side of your Function's page. You can collapse and expand each Squad in your Function using the arrows [1]. Expanding a Squad will show all contributing members in the Squad. Click on a contributing member's name [2] to navigate to their affiliated user profile (as a Function Lead, you will be shown the Function Lead-specific view of their profile).
Selecting Contributing Members/Squads to Display
Each contributing member and Squad in the Squads section has a checkbox [1]. The skills of those selected will populate in Cyber Skills Cortex in the Function Skills Profile. By default, all checkboxes will be selected. 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 contributing members and Squads, as well as the collective Readiness Score [3] for those selected.
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 selected Squads/contributing members have a fill. Squares that haven't been demonstrated by those selected have no fill.
Note that the skills of all selected in the Squads section will populate as fills in squares (even skills which are not part of the Function's Target Skills).
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 below that OC Level 3 has a very light shade. This means that few individuals have demonstrated OC at Level 3. OC Level 2 and Level 1 are darker, showing that more have demonstrated TG at Level 2 and 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 of each individual contributor.
Remember that as a Function Lead, you can structure individual contributing members and Squads within your Function as you see fit, to best meet your Function's Target Skills. You can always create new Squads (see the section above which detailed how to do this) or edit existing Squads (more on this below).
Editing Squads in your Function
After viewing your Function Skills Profile (with the skills of contributing members) populating, you may wish to add or remove contributing members to Squads to more optimally meet your Function's Target Skills (i.e. restructure team allocations). To do this, click Edit next to a Squad you wish to manage/restructure.
Editing Squad Details
When you have opened a Squad in edit mode, you'll see two tabs - Details [1], where you can manage key details about the Squad, and Users [2], where you can add or remove individuals to your Squad as contributing members.
On the Details tab, you'll be able to edit the Squad's Name. You can also edit the Squad's Description. Simply click the respective Edit button to do so. Note that Squad Managers in the Squad can also edit the Squad's Description.
You can also Delete the Squad if required (for example, if you have identified an improved way to structure and group contributing members in your Function).
📖 Note: if you delete a Squad, the following will occur:
All contributing members in the Squad will no longer be in your Function, which will affect your Function's Readiness Score and fulfilment of required Skill-Proficiency units.
The contributing members in your Squad will no longer be assigned to any Squad in your organisation, and hence will be able to be added to a new Squad by Function Leads in your organisation.
Squad Managers will no longer be able to access the Squad's profile and will also no longer be able to create and manage training activities for those in the Squad.
Editing Squad Users
On the Users tab, you'll see all current Squad Members and Managers and each of their top three skills. Click Remove [1] to remove any users from your Squad. To add users, simply type a user's name or specific skills you are looking for in the input bars [2] to filter your search. Select any users you wish to add (users will populate in the dropdown as you type), and then click Add Squad Manager(s) or Add Squad Members [3]. Once you're happy with your edits, click Save [4].
Navigating the Function Details Tab
On the Function Details tab, you'll be able to see the Function Name [1] and Function Description [2] (if any) that have been added to your Function by an Org Designer within your organisation.
Below this, you'll be able to see a list of all Function Leads that have been assigned to the Function you are viewing - you'll be able to see each person's name and email.
What do I do with this information?
The ability to compare collective Target Skills to collective Actual Skills in a Function in your organisation is key to being able to evaluate the readiness of a specific Function'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 Function 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.