Skills Inventory
A skills inventory is the dated, per-person record of which skills each employee holds, at what proficiency level, on what evidence.
What It Is
A skills inventory is a structured record, one entry per employee, listing the skills that person holds, the assessed proficiency level for each, the method and date of assessment, and any supporting evidence such as a certification or a supervised sign-off. It is organized around the person, which distinguishes it from a skills matrix (organized around a team) and a skills database (organized around the organization). The inventory is the source the other two are built from: a matrix is a view of several inventories against a role's requirements, and a database is the queryable store of all of them over time. An inventory is only as useful as it is current. Because skills decay and roles change, each entry needs a reassessment date, and the inventory needs an owner responsible for keeping it accurate.
Key Facts
- Unit of record: one person, one skill, one assessed level, one date, one method.
- Minimum fields: skill (from the library), level, method, assessor, date assessed, reassess-by date, evidence.
- Three sources of ratings are standard: self, manager, and a verifying method such as a test or evidence.
- Spreadsheet inventories typically break past roughly 50 people, a second site, or the first audit.
- Currency is the main failure mode: an inventory with no reassessment dates is a snapshot, not a record.
- The inventory feeds the skills matrix, gap analysis, staffing searches, and succession slates.
Inventory, Matrix, and Database Compared
| Term | Unit of record | Owner | Update cadence | Breaks when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skills inventory | Person × skill | Employee and manager | On assessment or evidence change | Nobody owns reassessment dates |
| Skills matrix | Team × required skills | Team lead or trainer | Per planning cycle | Teams exceed one sheet or one site |
| Skills database | Organization × all skills, over time | HR, L&D, or operations | Continuous | It is a spreadsheet pretending to be a system |
How SkillsDB Models It
SkillsDB holds the inventory as assessed skill levels on each person, each entry carrying method, date, evidence, and a currency window derived from the skill. Matrices, gap reports, and people searches read from that single record rather than from separate lists. See the Skills Library and Resume Search.
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