Skill profiles analyses provide a convenient and organized way to view an inclusive list of competencies for an employee as of a specific date. In addition to a simple list, skill profiles are also illustrated in a graphic.

Skill profiles are often useful in connection with skill gap analyses, for example, when an employee wants to see the difference between his or her profile and the profile that has been created for a particular job. Managers can also use skill profiles to find a person that is qualified for a particular business task by running skill mapping to search for a helpful skill.

Skills in a skill profile are specified on the employee resume. When viewing a skill gap analysis, you cannot modify skills in the profile. To update or modify a skill profile, you must do so on the employee resume.

You can use skill gap analyses to compare an employee's skill profile with a profile that has been defined for a particular job as of a particular date. You can compare an employee with the job that he or she currently holds, or select another job. This comparison helps identify strengths and weaknesses in the employee's competence profile, and can indicate appropriate skill development activities.

To use the information in either a skill profile or skill gap analysis in another program, for example, Excel, you can click the Copy to Clipboardbutton, and then paste the information into the spreadsheet.

You can use the skill wheel to view employee skill profiles and the results of a skill gap analysis. The skill wheel shows each skill in each profile.

When viewing a skill gap analysis, the wheel shows the difference between the target level and the actual level of each skill in the compared profiles.

Each skill is displayed as a segment of the wheel. You can specify the number of segments to show by entering a number in the Segments in wheelfield. The wheel can show a maximum of 12 segments at one time. If a profile contains more than 12 skills, you can spin the wheel by clicking the up or down arrows to the right side of the wheel. When you do this, new skills are added to the wheel and previously viewed skills disappear.

The number of rings inside the wheel corresponds to the number of skill levels assigned to the skills in the profile. By clicking a segment in the wheel, you change the skill selected in the table in the lower part of the form.

The colors shown in the wheel are indicated by the legend to the right of the wheel. To show or hide the legend, select or clear the Show legendcheck box. Target levels are always the darker color. The actual level is superimposed on the target level as a lighter, semitransparent shade of the same color so that you can see its value in relation to the target.