Skills Tracking and Management

1 Survey Background 3

2 Survey Questions 4

3 Key Takeaways 5

4 Professional and Consulting Services (PS/CS) 7 Responses

5 Enterprise/IT (E/IT) Responses 24

6 Product Development (PD) Responses 41

7 Survey Summary 58

1 The industry’s most in-depth look yet at skills tracking and management in three different project- based domains conducted in 4Q/2018

Input from 60 different companies including IT 2 services, professional services and product development executives and managers, resource managers and resource management office leadership Professional/Consulting services and Enterprise/IT 3 services made up 94% of the respondents. Recently added to the Survey Series is input from Product Development orgs representing 6% of respondents.

1 What type of organization do you represent? a) Professional or Consulting b) Enterprise/IT (E/IT) d) Other Services (PS or CS) c) Product Development (PD)

How many resources in total does your organization manage collectively with all resource 2 10 How often do employees update their skills in the skills database? (check the answer closest managers? to what you require) a) <50 b) 51-100 c) 101-200 d) 201-500 e) >501 a) Monthly c) Annually e) Employees don't f) We don't have a input their own skills skills database Does your current skills database effectively support your business needs? b) Quarterly d) Ad-hoc 3 information a) Yes b) No 11 How is skills information in the skills database validated? a) By managers c) Employees validate their own e) Other 4 How many roles do you define in your delivery organization? a) <50 c) 101-200 e) 501-1000 b) By SMEs of skill areas d) They are not validated b) 51-100 d) 201-500 f) >1001 12 How do you physically store your skills database? (check all that apply) a) Commercial b) HCM system d) Excel/Access e) We don't have an 5 Do you have skills defined for each role? PPM/PSA/RPM c) Homegrown system electronically stored a) Yes b) No system skills database As input to your resource management planning, which of the following do you track ? How many different skills do you track? 13 6 (check all that apply) a) <50 c) 101-200 e) 501-1000 a) Project interests of b) Specific project c) Career interests of d) None of these b) 51-100 d) 201-500 f) >1001 delivery personnel requests from delivery resources delivery resources 7 What categories of skills do you track? (check all that apply) 14 What do you use skills data for? (check all that apply) a) Product knowledge c) Industry knowledge f) Third party tools h) Delivery capabilities and technologies a) Project assignment b) Forecasting skills c) Career planning d) Other b) Platform or systems d) Soft skills i) Other mix needs and development knowledge e) Language skills g) Certifications 15 We are satisfied with our PSA/PPM/RPM tool(s) regarding capabilities for skills tracking and 8 Which functional organization defines the skills description and taxonomy? management? a) HR b) Service delivery c) RMO/PMO d) Other a) Very satisfied c) Not satisfied d) Searching for a new tool b) Somewhat satisfied now or soon in the future 9 How many proficiency levels do you track? a) 1 c) 3 e) 5+ f) We don't track 16 Our highest priority for PSA/PPM/RPM improvements related to skills management and tracking is: proficiency levels b) 2 d) 4 a) Better flexibility for c) Better automated d) Systems or e) Other our skills hierarchy support for staffing application b) Improved analysis selection prioritization consolidation/ capability based on employee integration ©2007 - 2019 RTM Consulting, Inc. / RMI. All Rights Reserved. or management input 4 Key Takeaways

The majority of organizations feel their skills tracking and management capabilities is an area for 1 improvement. Addressing the basics of building and managing an effective skills database will drive near term industry improvements in RM effectiveness.

The technology supporting skills tracking and 2 management is getting better but improvements are needed to provide more flexibility, actionable data, and reduce dependencies on spreadsheets and other separate tools. 3 There are clear best practices for creation, maintenance and management of skills databases to support Just-in-Time Resourcing® capabilities. This survey highlights this area as a critical gap for the industry as a whole to improve upon. The RMI will continue to put emphasis in this area and provide help and education to assist with this evolution.

6% 65% Professional or Consulting Services

29%

29% Enterprise/IT 65%

6% Product Development

79% of respondents represented 9% <50 organizations with 9% more than 100 resources being 13% 13% 51-100 managed. Building a 40% useable skills database gets harder 10% 10% 101-200 as the organization scales so no surprise we had lots of interest 29% 201-500 from these larger teams. 29% 40% >501

More than half the companies responding indicated the skills database capabilities in their organizations 41% Yes was a pain point. Since 41% an effective skills database is essential 59% to planning allocation of human resources, addressing this 59% No shortfall should be a high priority for these companies.

Does your current skills database effectively support your business needs? 59% Three RMI best 41% practices for building an effective skills database were Yes No confirmed with this survey data. Do you have skills defined for each role? How often do employees update their skills in the skills database? They are: 76% 69% 56% 1) defining skills by 49% 51% 44% role 31% 24% 2) regular updates by employees Yes No Monthly/Quarterly/Annually Employees don't input their own skills information/ We don't have a 3) proper validation of skills database/ Ad hoc employee data by management or How is skills information in the skills database validated? SMEs 79%

54% 46%

21%

By managers/ By SMEs of skill areas Employees validate their own/ They are not validated/ Other

Role definition is an important aspect of a 4% 71% <50 3% skills database design. 3% 3% The process of defining 16% 51-100 roles is as much an art as a science when it 16% comes to having a 101-200 3% correct amount of granularity to enable 3% 201-500 planning which can be 71% specific while not too 4% 501-1000 cumbersome to manage and maintain.

3% >1001

Perhaps one of the most concerning findings of this survey was that 40% had no skills definition for 60% Yes 40% roles. The lack of precision in role definition makes it infinitely more difficult 60% to plan for skills development and 40% No acquisition.

Skill definition is an important aspect of a 21% <50 skills database design. 11% The process of defining 21% skills is as much an art 6% 29% 51-100 as a science when it comes to having a 101-200 19% 14% correct amount of granularity to enable 19% 201-500 planning which can be 29% specific while not too cumbersome to manage 14% 6% 501-1000 and maintain.

11% >1001

There is a clear focus on Product knowledge 94% the ‘hard’ skills while

Platform or systems knowledge 93% ‘soft’ skills lags. In Professional and Industry knowledge 73% Consulting services soft skills particularly those Soft skills 44% related to client

Language skills 71% interactions are key to improved customer Third party tools and technologies 60% satisfaction, scope creep containment, project Certifications 81% management and more

Delivery capabilities 53% and therefore should receive additional focus. Other 6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

While this data does 9% 11% 11% HR not address trends for how skills are defined, RMI observation is that cross-functional 49% Service delivery 31% participation in the process is on the rise. No surprise is that 49% 31% RMO/PMO most are done by the teams that have to execute with those 9% Other skills.

Other: • Emerging Technology Practice and Technical Enablement • Collaboration between HR and Services Delivery • Consultants' Line Managers • Global effort between consulting, product, RMO, PMO • Jointly defined by Product Dev, Support, Education, and • Operations Consulting orgs (RMO represents Consulting)

Good news that 91% 17% 3 are tracking defined 9% 17% proficiency levels, and most are using a reasonably 36% 4 uncomplicated metric 39% to do so. 39% 5+ 36%

9% We don't track proficiency levels

A key success factor in

1% Monthly successful resource 4% management is a well 1% 10% designed and 31% Quarterly maintained skills 31% database. With 44% 21% Annually using ad-hoc or with 31% no process for 31% Ad-hoc employee updates, the industry has significant Employees don't input their own skills 10% room for improvement. 21% information

4% We don't have a skills database

For companies that require regular 60% By managers 3% maintenance of skills 17% information, most have a validation procedure 4% By SMEs of skill areas to ensure integrity of the data. Note that a third default to either no 16% 16% Employees validate their own validation or allow the 60% employee to self- validate. The RMI 4% 17% They are not validated recommends that a manager or SME conduct validation somewhere in the 3% Other process.

Half or more respondents are using a specific tool to store 50% Commercial PPM/PSA/RPM system 1% the skills database. The use of spreadsheets to 37% 7% HCM system 50% support the process puts a spotlight on the need for more robust 24% Homegrown system automation tools to reduce or eliminate the current dependence on 37% Excel/Access a separate tool. 24% 7%

We don't have an electronically stored skills 1% database

The tightening of workforce availability will require all companies to Project interests of delivery personnel 43% up their game when it comes to employee engagement. It is encouraging that so Specific project requests from delivery resources 37% many are tracking elements important to the individual to support scalable employee Career interests of delivery resources 40% engagement programs. Note that more than one third however are not tracking these elements. None of these 36%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Getting to great in Project assignment 99% Resource Management will require companies to put skills data to work more universally for Forecasting skills mix needs 64% forecasting and career planning and development efforts. The ‘old world’ Career planning and development 49% companies will be those where the focus remains solely on project allocation needs. Other 9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Other: • We WILL be using for career planning, just not doing it yet • We do not use the skills database correctly at the moment • To develop training were there are gaps but plan to use for all of the above • New hiring / upskilling if shortage on skills for a specific • Nothing at this time because it is not user friendly and too product • Training plans, curriculum broad

While 44% are somewhat or very 13% Very satisfied satisfied with their 13% 20% automation tool(s), the rest are not. These 31% Somewhat satisfied findings are entirely consistent with past 31% RMI research identifying 36% Not satisfied opportunities for 36% PSA/PPM providers to improve capabilities for Searching for a new tool now or soon 20% in the future tracking and managing skills.

Flexibility, analytics, and more 16% Better flexibility for our skills hierarchy sophisticated 7% 16% 7% capabilities for project allocation made up the 37% Improved analysis capability predominance of identified needs for Better automated support for staffing 33% selection prioritization based on employee PSA/PPM application 33% or management input enhancements. 37% Systems or application 7% consolidation/integration

7% Other

Other: • Ease of implementation • We still need to formalize and rollout our employee • Need automation for external resources to review skill update/review process as well as our processes and update skills • Timeliness of the data provided by resources for maintenance of the skills included in the database • A system that actually works

97% of respondents 3% 51-100 represented 3% organizations with more than 100 26% resources being 26% 101-200 managed. Building a useable skills 58% database gets harder 13% 201-500 as the organization 13% scales so no surprise we had lots of interest 58% >501 from these teams.

More than two thirds of the companies responding indicated the skills database capabilities in their organizations was a 29% 29% Yes pain point. Since an effective skills database is essential to planning an allocation of human resources, addressing this 71% shortfall should be a high 71% No priority for these companies.

Does your current skills database effectively support your business needs? 71% Three RMI best practices for building an effective 29% skills database were confirmed with this survey data. Yes No

Do you have skills defined for each role? How often do employees update their skills in the They are: 89% skills database? 82% 1) defining skills by role 77% 67% 2) regular updates by employees 33% 18% 23% 11% 3) proper validation of employee data by Yes No Monthly/Quarterly/Annually Employees don't input their own management or skills information/ We don't SMEs have a skills database/ Ad hoc How is skills information in the skills database validated? 67% 71%

29% 33%

By managers/ By SMEs of skill areas Employees validate their own/ They are not validated/ Other 27 ©2007 - 2019 RTM Consulting, Inc. / RMI. All Rights Reserved. Q4: How many roles do you define in your delivery organization?– E/IT

Skill definition is an important aspect of a 6% 3% 35% <50 skills database design. The process of defining 13% 35% 26% 51-100 skills is as much an art as a science when it comes to having a 101-200 16% correct amount of 16% granularity to enable 13% 201-500 planning which can be specific while not too 6% 501-1000 cumbersome to manage 26% and maintain.

3% >1001

Perhaps one of the most concerning findings of this survey was that nearly two thirds had no skills Yes 39% 39% definition for roles. The lack of precision in role definition makes it infinitely more difficult to plan for skills 61% development and 61% No acquisition.

Skill definition is an important aspect of a 63% <50 skills database design. 3% 3% The process of defining 17% 10% 51-100 skills is as much an art as a science when it comes to having a 3% 3% 101-200 correct amount of granularity to enable 10% 63% 17% 201-500 planning which can be specific while not too cumbersome to manage 501-1000 3% and maintain.

3% >1001

There is a clear focus on Product knowledge 73% the ‘hard’ skills while ‘soft’ skills lags. Soft skills Platform or systems knowledge 73% particularly those related to internal client Industry knowledge 37% interactions are helpful for Soft skills 47% managing project expectations and Language skills 37% outcomes. Therefore E/IT orgs should consider Third party tools and technologies 57% giving soft skills additional Certifications 77% focus.

Delivery capabilities 40%

Other 7%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

In contrast to their PS/CS counterparts, 35% HR 16% HR plays a more involved role with these teams in the 35% 26% Service delivery formation of a skills taxonomy. The RMI 23% recommends this process be cross- 23% RMO/PMO functional as the use, maintenance, and ongoing evolution of 26% the skills taxonomy 16% Other can benefit from both delivery and HR.

Other: • IT Leadership • We currently do not have anything in place and we are • Learning and Knowledge Management team working on developing it. It will be a taskforce made up of • All HR, RMO, PMO, Service Delivery together • Engineering and Project Management Managers mixed functions.

The RMI believes that E/IT should put more 10% 3 focus on proficiency to 10% improve productivity and morale of the workforce, 32% 4 and project quality. A 23% 23% clear contrast exists with E/IT vs. their PS/CS counterparts. The RMI 35% 5+ believes this is because PS/CS personnel are more external client facing and therefore 35% 32% We don't track proficiency levels proficiency for billable services puts more pressure to this aspect of employee development.

A key success factor in successful resource 3% Monthly management is a well 3% designed and 16% Quarterly maintained skills 16% database. A third of 32% respondents have no 16% Annually skills database. Another 33% using ad-hoc or 16% with no process for 23% Ad-hoc employee updates. The data clearly points to an 10% Employees don't input their own skills industry with significant 10% information room for improvement 23% regarding skills 32% We don't have a skills database databases supporting resource management.

For companies that require regular 33% By managers 7% maintenance of skills information, only 40% 33% have a validation 7% By SMEs of skill areas procedure to ensure 30% integrity of the data. Note that more than half 23% Employees validate their own default to either no validation or allow the employee to self- 7% 30% They are not validated validate. The RMI recommends that a 23% manager conduct validation somewhere in 7% Other the process.

Less than half of respondents are using a specific tool to store the skills database. The use of spreadsheets to support 26% Commercial PPM/PSA/RPM system the process puts a spotlight on 26% the need for more robust 29% automation tools to reduce or 6% HCM system eliminate dependence on separate tools. With almost a 6% third not using a skills 13% Homegrown system database, this represents a real opportunity to use technology and process to 29% 13% 29% Excel/Access improve overall resource management and employee We don't have an electronically stored skills engagement. 29% database

The tightening of workforce availability will require all companies to up their game when it Project interests of delivery personnel 29% comes to employee engagement. It is Specific project requests from delivery resources 52% encouraging that so many are tracking elements important to Career interests of delivery resources 26% the individual to support scalable employee None of these 39% engagement programs. Note that more than one 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% third however are not tracking these elements.

Getting to great in Resource Management will require companies Project assignment 70% to put skills data to work more universally for Forecasting skills mix needs 50% forecasting and career planning and

Career planning and development 53% development efforts. The ‘old world’ companies will be those Other 7% where the focus remains solely on project 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% allocation needs.

While 45% are somewhat or very 13% Very satisfied satisfied with their 16% 13% automation tool(s), the rest are not. These findings are entirely 32% Somewhat satisfied consistent with past RMI research identifying 32% opportunities for 39% Not satisfied PSA/PPM providers to 39% improve capabilities for tracking and managing Searching for a new tool now or soon skills. 16% in the future

Flexibility, analytics, and more 16% Better flexibility for our skills hierarchy 6% 6% 16% sophisticated capabilities for project allocation made up the 35% Improved analysis capability predominance of identified needs for Better automated support for staffing 35% selection prioritization based on employee PSA/PPM application 35% or management input 35% enhancements.

Systems or application 6% consolidation/integration

6% Other

Other: • No PPM improvements-difficult to track centrally due • Simply having the forms/fields to track the data to HR privacy issues related to recording personal skills and proficiencies

40 ©2007 - 2019 RTM Consulting, Inc. / RMI. All Rights Reserved. Product Development Responses Note: Product development is a new focus group for the RMI and this survey had only a small number of respondents from those organizations. As our respondent base and product development membership grows, this data will become more valuable to those organizations. The results are not too dissimilar from the PS/CS and E/IT.

83% of respondents 17% 51-100 represented organizations with 17% more than 100 resources being 33% 17% 101-200 managed. Building a 17% useable skills database gets harder 33% 201-500 as the organization scales so no surprise we had lots of interest 33% 33% >501 from these teams.

More than two thirds of the companies responding indicated the skills database capabilities in their Yes organizations was a 33% 33% pain point. Since an effective skills database is essential to planning an allocation of human 67% resources, addressing 67% No this shortfall should be a high priority for these companies.

Does your current skills database effectively support your business needs? Three RMI best practices for 67% building an effective skills database were confirmed with 33% survey data for PS/CS and E/IT. The sample size for PD was Yes No too small to collect statistically valid data. The RMI believes in Do you have skills defined for each role? How often do employees update their skills in the future surveys if we are able to skills database? expand PD participation, 100% support for best practices as 75% outlined below will be confirmed: 50% 50% 50% 50% 25% They are: 0% 1) defining skills by role

Yes No Monthly/Quarterly/Annually Employees don't input their own 2) regular updates by skills information/ We don't have a employees skills database/ Ad hoc 3) proper validation of employee data by management or SMEs How is skills information in the skills database validated?

50% 50% 50% 50%

By managers/ By SMEs of skill Employees validate their own/ areas They are not validated/ Other

Skill definition is an important aspect of a skills database design. 17% 67% <50 The process of defining skills is as much an art as a science when it comes to having a 17% 17% 51-100 correct amount of granularity to enable planning which can be 67% specific while not too cumbersome to manage 17% 101-200 and maintain.

Perhaps one of the most concerning findings of this survey was that two thirds had 33% no skills definition for 33% Yes roles. The lack of precision in role definition makes it infinitely more difficult to plan for skills 67% development and 67% No acquisition.

Skill definition is an important aspect of a skills database design. 67% <50 17% The process of defining skills is as much an art as a science when it comes to having a 17% 17% 51-100 correct amount of granularity to enable planning which can be 67% specific while not too cumbersome to manage 17% 101-200 and maintain.

There is a clear focus on Product knowledge 60% the ‘hard’ skills while ‘soft’ skills lags. Soft Platform or systems knowledge 60% skills particularly those related to internal client Industry knowledge 40% interactions are helpful

Soft skills 40% for managing project expectations and Third party tools and technologies 20% outcomes and therefore PD orgs should consider Certifications 20% giving soft skills additional focus. Delivery capabilities 40%

Other 20%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

The RMI recommends 17% HR this process be cross- 17% 17% functional as the use, maintenance, and Service delivery ongoing evolution of 17% the skills taxonomy 17% can benefit from both PD and HR. 50% RMO/PMO

50%

17% Other

Other: • Each department

Encouraging that two thirds of PD respondents do track proficiency levels. The 33% 3 remaining third should put more focus on proficiency 33% 33% to improve productivity and 17% 4 morale of the workforce, and project quality. A clear contrast exists with PD vs. their PS/CS counter-parts. 17% 5+ The RMI believes this is because PS/CS personnel are more external client 17% 17% facing and therefore 33% We don't track proficiency levels proficiency for billable services puts more pressure on this aspect of employee development.

A key success factor in successful resource 17% Monthly management is a well 17% designed and maintained skills 33% database. A third of 17% Annually respondents have no 17% skills database. Another 33% with no process for Employees don't input their own 33% employee updates. The skills information data clearly points to an industry with significant 33% room for improvement in 33% We don't have a skills database skills database management supporting resource management.

For companies that require regular 50% By managers 17% maintenance of skills information, only 50% have a manager involved in validation 33% They are not validated of employee inputs to 33% 50% ensure integrity of the data. The RMI recommends that a manager conduct 17% Other validation somewhere in the process.

Half of respondents are using a specific tool to store the skills database. The use of spreadsheets to support the process 50% Commercial PPM/PSA/RPM system puts a spotlight on the 17% need for more robust automation tools to reduce or eliminate dependence on 33% Excel/Access separate tools. With 17% not using a skills 50% database, this 33% represents a real opportunity to use We don't have an electronically stored technology and process 17% skills database to improve overall resource management and employee engagement.

The tightening of workforce availability will require all companies to Project interests of delivery personnel 33% up their game when it comes to employee engagement. It is encouraging that some Specific project requests from delivery resources 17% are tracking elements important to the individual to support scalable employee Career interests of delivery resources 17% engagement programs. Note that more than two thirds however are not tracking these elements.

None of these 67%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Getting to great in Project assignment 67% Resource Management will require companies to put skills data to work more universally for Forecasting skills mix needs 100% forecasting and career planning and development efforts. The ‘old world’ Career planning and development 33% companies will be those where the focus remains solely on project allocation needs. Other 17%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Other: • We use role data for this where demand and capacity use common role titles

While 50% are somewhat satisfied with their automation 17% tool(s), the rest are 50% Somewhat satisfied not. These findings are entirely consistent with past RMI research 50% identifying opportunities for 33% Not satisfied PSA/PPM providers to 33% improve capabilities for tracking and managing skills. Searching for a new tool now or soon 17% in the future

Improved analytics and more sophisticated capabilities for project allocation made up the 33% predominance of 67% Improved analysis capability identified needs for PSA/PPM application enhancements.

67%

Better automated support for staffing 33% selection prioritization based on employee or management input

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