Answers to common questions about competencies and fixes for common problems.

This article answers the most common questions and problems with competencies in Factorial: setting up the library, linking competencies to jobs, competency assessment in performance reviews, results, permissions and AI. Competencies are sometimes called skills or a skill matrix.

Before you start

• Most setup tasks need Manage competencies. Linking competencies to jobs needs Edit job catalog competencies.
• Competencies reach people through the job (role and level) in their contract.

Rules and behavior

• If a competency isn't linked to the reviewee's job, then it isn't in their review.
• If a review doesn't have Include competency assessment on, then it has no competency questions.
• If a review is launched, then later competency changes don't change its questionnaires.
• If an employee has no job from the job catalog in their contract, then they get no job-based competency questions.
• Competency scores use the review's scoring scale; levels are descriptions of expectations, not scores.

Limitations

• You can't run a competency assessment outside a performance review.
• You can't assign a competency to an individual employee.
• You can't choose a different scale for competency questions than for the review.
• Factorial doesn't calculate a gap between a score and the expected level.
• You can't archive competencies; only delete them.

Troubleshooting

Setup

• Symptom: "Competencies doesn't appear under Performance." → Cause: You don't have Manage competencies, or your company's plan doesn't include Performance (Business or Enterprise). → Fix: Ask an admin to check Settings > Permissions > Competencies and your company's plan (Business or Enterprise).
• Symptom: "I can't create a competency: 'Name has already been taken'." → Cause: An active competency has that name. → Fix: Use a different name or edit the existing one.
• Symptom: "Import competencies is missing." → Cause: You need Can import resources as well as Manage competencies. → Fix: Ask an admin for the permission.

Jobs and expected levels

• Symptom: "A job shows 'No level' for a competency." → Cause: The job is linked to the competency without an expected level, or its level was deleted. → Fix: In the competency's Jobs tab, use Edit competency level.
• Symptom: "I can't unassign a competency from a role." → Cause: It's inherited from a family, function or the company. → Fix: Unassign it on the node shown in Inherited from in Employees > Jobs.
• Symptom: "No suggested competencies appear for a job." → Cause: The job has no description, it's a level, or you don't have Manage competencies. → Fix: Add a description to the role in Employees > Jobs.

Reviews

• Symptom: "An employee wasn't asked about any competency." → Cause: No job in their contract, no competencies on their job, or competency assessment off. → Fix: Fix the contract or job; the change applies to new evaluations.
• Symptom: "The competency toggle is disabled." → Cause: The review isn't a draft. → Fix: Turn it on in a new review.
• Symptom: "Upward (direct report) reviewers didn't get competency questions." → Cause: Competencies are only assessed by self, manager and peer reviewers. → Fix: None; this is by design.
• Symptom: "A participant has no final score in a review with custom weights." → Cause: The competencies section has a weight but the participant had no competencies. → Fix: Contact Factorial support.

Results

• Symptom: "The Competencies tab says 'There are no competency assessments to show'." → Cause: No submitted competency answers visible to you. → Fix: Check the review's visibility and that evaluations were submitted.
• Symptom: "The spider chart doesn't show peers." → Cause: Peers haven't submitted, or there are more than 5 peers and their lines start hidden. → Fix: Click the peer names in the chart legend.

FAQ

1. Can Factorial include job-specific competencies in our reviews?

Yes. Link competencies to jobs in the job catalog and turn on Include competency assessment. Each person is assessed on the competencies of their own job.

2. Can I set expectations per job and compare them with the scores?

Yes, partly. Each job can have an expected level per competency, which reviewers see as Expected level and results show as "Competency (Level)". Factorial doesn't calculate the gap automatically; One can show scores next to expected levels.

3. What happened to the Assessments tab in Performance > Competencies?

Competencies are now assessed inside performance reviews. Standalone assessments with comments and publish/unpublish are no longer available; past results appear in the employee's Competencies tab when you can see them.

4. Can Factorial create competencies with AI?

Factorial suggests competencies for roles, functions and families when you add competencies from Employees > Jobs. Suggestions for functions and families use AI. Writing new competencies or levels with AI isn't available.

5. Are recruitment (ATS) competencies the same as Performance competencies?

No. The competencies you add to a job posting for AI candidate evaluation are a separate list.

6. Can I link competencies to training courses?

Yes. When you create or edit a course in Training, select the competencies it develops.