What competency requirements are
Competency requirements link a trade to the qualifications or certifications a worker is expected to hold. They are stored in the company's competency matrix and are attached to a trade, with optional sector-specific overrides.
Use the competency matrix when a role needs controlled eligibility checks, trade-specific certification visibility, or evidence that workers meet the role's requirements before they are progressed through requisition and assignment workflows.
Master requirements and sector overrides
Each trade can have a master requirement set. This is the base requirement set used for that trade when no sector-specific override applies.
A trade can also have sector overrides. Sector overrides let the same trade require different competencies in different sectors. In the Competency Matrix table, sector overrides appear under the trade row and can be expanded, reviewed, edited, or deleted separately.
If a sector-specific requirement is created before the trade has a master record, the system also creates a base master record with no requirements. This keeps the trade visible in the grouped matrix and allows the sector override to sit under the correct trade.
Requirement logic
A requirement set can contain direct competency items and grouped competency items. A single direct item means the worker must hold that competency.
Use Alternative to add OR logic. When several alternatives are added, the worker can satisfy that requirement by holding any one of the listed competencies.
Use Add AND group when several competencies must be held together as one option. Items inside the group are joined with AND, and that grouped option can sit alongside other OR alternatives.
Use Additional requirement to add another requirement block. Separate requirement blocks are evaluated as separate requirements rather than as one large alternative list.
Adding requirements
Open the company detail page and go to Competency Matrix. Choose Add Requirement to create requirements for trades that do not already have a requirement record for the selected scope.
Choose All Sectors to create the master requirement set, or choose a specific sector to create a sector override. Then select one or more trades and build the competency or certification requirements. You can select all available trades in one save, including when more than 50 trades are available.
The trade selector excludes trades that already have a matrix record for the selected scope, which helps prevent duplicate records for the same trade and sector.
Marking no requirements
If a trade needs to be represented in the competency matrix but does not require competencies or certifications, select Competencies/Certification not required for this job role.
Saving this creates or updates the matrix record with an empty requirements list. The trade remains visible in the matrix, but downstream requirement displays show that no competency requirements are set.
Editing requirements
Click a master row with no overrides, or use the edit icon, to amend that trade's master requirements. For trades with sector overrides, expand the row and edit the specific sector row.
When editing an existing matrix row, the trade and sector are fixed. The edit changes the requirement content for that existing row.
The system validates that selected qualifications exist and prevents duplicate AND requirements in the same requirement set.
Deleting requirements
Use the delete icon to remove a competency matrix row. If a trade has sector overrides, expand the row and delete the relevant sector override from the expanded table.
The master row delete action is hidden while sector overrides exist. Remove sector overrides first if you need to remove the whole trade's matrix setup.
Deleting a sector override means the trade falls back to the default parent requirements where applicable.
Bulk amendments
Use Bulk Amend Competency Requirements when the same change needs to be applied across multiple trades or sectors. Only trades with existing competency requirements are shown in the bulk amend dialog.
Select the trades and sectors to update. Sectors include Master (Base Requirements), so you can choose whether the change applies to base requirements, sector-specific requirements, or both.
Bulk add
Bulk Add adds new competencies to every selected trade and sector. If a selected sector does not yet have an override, or its override has no requirements, the sector override starts with the master requirements before the new competencies are added. Existing populated sector overrides keep their current requirements. Duplicates are skipped.
Individual Requirements (AND) adds each selected competency as a separate requirement. Alternatives (OR) groups the selected competencies together so a worker can satisfy the requirement with any one of them.
Bulk remove
Bulk Remove removes one selected competency from all selected trades and sectors.
If removing the competency leaves a trade or sector with no requirements, that record is left as No requirements rather than being removed from the matrix.
Bulk set
Bulk Set replaces the existing requirements for the selected trades and sectors with the new requirement set you build in the dialog.
Because Bulk Set overwrites existing requirements, the dialog warns you before applying the change and offers an Export Backup action.
Searching, paging, and exporting
Use the Competency Matrix search to find matrix rows by trade name. The table is paged, so large matrices can be reviewed without loading every row into the view at once.
Use Export XLS to download the company's competency matrix data. The export includes trade, sector, and requirement information and is useful before large bulk changes.
Viewing requirements in the matrix
The Competency Matrix table shows the trade, a requirement summary, and the number of sector overrides. Expand a row to review sector-specific requirement sets.
When a requirement is too detailed for the table summary, use the eye icon to open the detailed requirement view. The detailed view shows the full requirement structure, including grouped AND and OR logic.
Viewing requirements in the Trades list
The Trades list includes a Competency/Cert Requirements column. It summarises the primary requirement set for each trade row. When the all-sector set has no requirements but sector overrides do, hover over No requirements to see which sectors have requirements.
When multiple competency matrices are returned for a trade, the list uses the first requirement set as the primary summary and keeps all returned matrices available for the detailed view.
Use the eye icon when it appears to view all requirement sets for the trade. This is especially useful when sector-specific requirements exist or when the summary is too long to read in the table.
Downstream use
Competency matrix data is used by requisition and worker workflows to show requirements and support eligibility checks. When a sector is available, the sector-specific matrix is preferred; otherwise the master requirement set is used.
Requisitions and assignments can also store custom competency requirements when an authorised user amends the competency matrix in that workflow. Those custom requirements apply to that requisition or assignment context instead of the standard trade matrix.
When to review requirements
After adding new trades.
Before opening a trade for supplier submissions.
When a sector is added or changed.
Before applying bulk amendments.
When worker eligibility results are unexpected.
When a role's certification or qualification policy changes.
Common troubleshooting
If a trade is missing from Add Requirement, check whether it already has a master record or a record for the selected sector.
If a sector requirement is not showing where expected, check whether the correct sector override exists and whether the relevant requisition or project is linked to that sector.
If a worker does not match a role, open the detailed requirement view and confirm whether the rule is an OR alternative, an AND group, or a separate additional requirement.
If you need to make a broad correction, export a backup before using Bulk Set.
Trade name updates
When a trade is updated, related competency matrix trade names are refreshed so requirement records continue to display the current trade name.
For agencies: meeting trade requirements
Competency requirements are set up by the hiring company, but they directly affect whether the workers you submit are eligible, so they matter to agencies.
The competency matrix and its requirements are owned and edited by the hiring company; agency users do not create or amend them.
When you submit a worker for a requisition, their qualifications are checked against the trade's requirements for the relevant sector.
If a worker is rejected as not matching, review which competencies or certifications the trade requires and confirm the worker's records hold them.
A requisition or assignment can carry custom requirements set by the hiring company that differ from the standard trade matrix, so check the specific role.
If a requirement looks wrong or out of date, raise it with the hiring company since they maintain the matrix.