A skills matrix for technicians: know who can do which job, and who needs to learn what
A breakdown call comes in on a heat pump, and the planner wonders who can go. The colleague who can certainly do it is on leave, and the youngest technician has done it once, alongside someone else. What each technician can do is often only in the head of the person in charge.
Published by Abdelhay Rahou (opens in a new window)5 November 20269 min read
What is a skills matrix?
A skills matrix is a table with the types of work in the rows and your technicians in the columns. Each box holds a level: has never done it, is learning it, does it alone, teaches it to others. That way the planner sees whom they can send. The person in charge sees which training is needed, and which work depends on one person. The same idea is also known as a competency matrix.
Where it goes wrong without an overview
- Only one person can do it. They are on leave or ill, and a whole type of work comes to a halt.
- The planner sends whoever is free. The technician finds themselves in front of an appliance they do not know, and a second trip follows.
- The skills are too vague. “HVAC” or “electricity” does not tell you whether someone can commission a heat pump.
- Everyone assesses themselves. One overestimates themselves, another does not dare say they can do it.
- Certificates expire unnoticed. Nobody sees that a certificate runs out next month.
Building a skills matrix in five steps
- List the job types, not vague skills. Start from your interventions over the past year: “gas condensing boiler maintenance”, “air-to-water heat pump breakdown”, “air conditioning commissioning”, “water softener maintenance”. A job type is work a customer orders and a technician carries out from start to finish.
- Choose four levels, each with a short definition. Without a definition, a level means something different to each assessor.
- Decide who assesses. The person in charge and an experienced colleague who does the work at the highest level themselves, based on work they have seen or checked. The technician gives their own estimate, but does not decide alone.
- Fill in the matrix with each technician separately. One conversation per person, and note straight away what they want to learn.
- Agree on how often you review it. At least once a year, and every time after a training course, when a new type of appliance arrives or when someone leaves.
If you work with a quality system such as ISO 9001, ask your quality manager or auditor what form and what evidence they expect.
Four levels, each with a definition
| Level | Meaning | Allowed to do it alone? |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Has never done it | No |
| 1 | Learning: has done it under supervision | No, only together with a level 3 colleague |
| 2 | Independent: does it alone, including an ordinary breakdown | Yes |
| 3 | Expert: solves difficult cases and teaches others | Yes, and can supervise |
Keep it to four. With ten levels, you end up arguing about the difference between a 6 and a 7, and that is no use to the planner.
Template: a skills matrix for a heating company
An example with four technicians (for illustration only; adapt the job types to your own work):
| Job type | Technician A | Technician B | Technician C | Technician D | At level 2 or 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas condensing boiler maintenance | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Gas condensing boiler breakdown | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Air-to-water heat pump maintenance | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Air-to-water heat pump breakdown | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Heat pump commissioning | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Water softener maintenance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
The last column tells you the most. A 1 means that work depends on one person. A 0 means nobody can do it alone.
Keep certificates separately. A certificate with an expiry date belongs in a separate list: technician, certificate, obtained on, expires on, and who gets a reminder in time. Which certificates your work legally requires depends on the installations and on the rules that apply to your company. Check with your sector federation, the competent authority or your prevention adviser.
Using the skills matrix for scheduling
- For an urgent breakdown, the planner first looks at who is at level 2 or 3 for that job type, and then at who is available.
- Whoever is learning rides along. A level 1 technician goes with a level 3 colleague, or is given simple maintenance while a colleague can be reached by phone.
- During leave, at least one person at level 2 or 3 stays available for each job type. How to build that in is explained in technician leave planning.
- For a new contract, you see in advance whether you can handle the work, or need to train someone first.
Using the skills matrix for training
Every job type with fewer than two people at level 2 or 3 is a training priority. Choose who will be the second, plan ride-alongs with the expert and a training course, and set a date to assess again. A work instruction for each job type makes sure the second person learns the same thing as the first (see writing a work instruction).
The Code on well-being at work (Codex over het welzijn op het werk / Code du bien-être au travail) asks the members of the line management to check that tasks are distributed so that they are carried out by workers with the necessary competence, who have received the required training and instructions (article I.2-11, 6°). When the employer gives a worker a task, they take into account that worker’s capabilities in terms of well-being at work (article I.2-19). The text is in book I, title 2 of the Code (PDF, in Dutch). A skills matrix can make this visible; discuss with your prevention adviser whether it is enough for your company.
An example: a heating company that takes on heat pumps
A heating company with four technicians has been maintaining gas boilers for years and has recently started on heat pumps as well. The matrix shows it straight away: heat pump breakdowns and commissioning depend on one technician. If he is on leave, a breakdown waits, or a colleague who does not know the appliance goes, and a second trip follows.
The person in charge chooses technician B as the second. B follows a training course at the manufacturer and rides along with A for a few months on heat pump breakdowns. From now on, the planner sends those breakdowns to A, or to B when A can be reached by phone. After six months, they assess again: B is at level 2 for breakdowns, and C starts riding along on commissioning jobs.
How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite
- The list of skills: in the settings, the configuration tab contains the list of skills, alongside teams, intervention types and templates, among others. The administrator or the manager adds a skill there. Teams and skills only appear if those functions are active. They are set in a tab reserved for the system administrator: ask Digitalnatie to switch them on.
- The levels: in the schedule configuration, the administrator or the manager sets the skill levels, per skill and per technician.
- Per technician: click a technician’s name to open their profile. Among other things, it shows their skills and their availability (working hours, regions, contact), which a shortcut and the edit button let you change. The administrator, the manager and the planner can view the profile; the administrator and the manager change it. On the user form, the administrator also has a tab for skills and regions.
- On a template: besides the instructions, the standard duration (hours), the intervention type and the team, an intervention template also carries the skills. The values are copied when you choose the template while creating an intervention.
- Training: a task is work outside an intervention that the office gives a technician, for example a training course. The technician sees it in their tasks and calendar in the app; the office sees the status on the technician’s profile.
- In the [schedule](/en/planning-service-orders/): the planner filters by technician, team, type, status and priority. While dragging, they see what is in the way: another intervention, leave, a time outside working hours.
Good to know: the schedule does not suggest a technician based on their skills and does not filter on them. The planner decides which technician gets a breakdown, with the profile or your matrix at hand. If you work with teams per specialism, the team filter helps. Service Suite does not track technicians’ certificates and their expiry dates either: you keep that list separately.
How to plan a week with room for urgent work is explained in scheduling technicians. How a new colleague goes through their first weeks is covered in onboarding a new technician.
Frequently asked questions
What is a skills matrix?
A table with the types of work in the rows and the technicians in the columns, with a level in each box. It shows who can do which work alone, who is learning it and which work depends on one person. The planner uses it to send the right technician, the person in charge to plan training.
How many levels should a skills matrix have?
Four is workable: has never done it, is learning it, does it independently, and expert who trains others. More important than the number is a short definition per level, which answers the question of whether the technician may do the work alone.
Can I make a skills matrix in Excel?
Yes. A spreadsheet with the job types in the rows, the technicians in the columns and a colour per level is enough to start with. The risk is that nobody keeps it up to date: tie it to fixed moments, such as after each training course and at the annual review.
Who assesses a technician’s level?
The person in charge, together with an experienced colleague who does that work at the highest level themselves, based on work they have seen or checked. The technician gives their own estimate, and you discuss any differences in the conversation.
Does Service Suite choose a technician automatically based on their skills?
No. You record skills and skill levels per technician, and an intervention template carries skills, but the schedule does not suggest a technician on that basis and does not filter on skills. The planner chooses the technician, with the profile or your matrix at hand.