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Production Skills — Match the Right Resource to Each Job Step

Overview​

A skill is a capability you attach to a resource — "Welding", "CNC Turning", "Powder Coating". You define your skills once, tag each machine and worker with what they can do, and then a step in a job can ask for a skill. From that point on, a step that needs a welder will only ever be scheduled onto a resource that actually holds the welding skill. This is what keeps the wrong person or the wrong machine off a job step, quietly and automatically.

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Availability depends on your plan and your role.

Why keep a skill list at all​

Without a shared list, one person types "Welder", the next types "welder", and a step that needs a welder matches one of them, both, or neither — and you only find out when a shift closes and the job wasn't done. A skill is chosen from a list rather than typed freely, so the same capability is always spelled the same way and "find me a welder" is reliable every time.

Two more things the list gives you:

  • Honest scheduling. A step only offers resources that can do it, so nobody has to remember who can weld.
  • One source of truth. Add a skill once and it's available to tag on any resource and to ask for on any job step.

Step-by-step: add a skill​

Step 1: Open Skills​

From the left sidebar, open Production, then Skills. On the Skills list, click + Add Skill.

Step 2: Name it​

Give the skill a clear name your team already uses — "Welding", "CNC Turning", "Spray Painting", "Assembly". Keep it short and agreed: one "Welding" skill tagged on everyone who can weld beats three near-identical entries that each catch only some of your people.

Step 3: Choose what kind of resource holds it​

A skill belongs to a kind of resource — a machine skill, or a person's (labour) skill, or one for a facility or a tool. This is what stops a machine job step matching a person's capability by mistake. "CNC Turning" is a machine skill; "Welding" is a person's skill. Pick the kind that matches who or what actually does this work.

Step 4: Describe it (optional)​

Add a short description or note if it helps your team tell two similar skills apart. This is just for people to read — it doesn't change how the skill is matched.

Step 5: Save​

Click Save. The skill now appears in your list, ready to tag on resources and to ask for on job steps.

Tag your resources with the skills they have​

A skill does nothing until it's attached to the resources that hold it.

  • When adding or editing a resource, add one or more skills it can do. A machine might carry "CNC Turning"; a worker might carry "Welding" and "Assembly". See Resources, rates & skills.
  • Tag them honestly. A job step that asks for a skill will only ever be scheduled onto a resource that has it — so if a machine isn't tagged, it won't be offered, and if it's tagged for something it can't really do, it will be.
  • A resource can hold several skills, and the same skill sits on as many resources as can do it.

Ask for a skill on a job step​

When you set up how a product is made, a step can require a skill. A "Weld frame" step can require "Welding", and from then on Bizconnekt will only let a welder be scheduled onto it. This is the whole point of the list: the step states what it needs, and matching the right resource to it is automatic. See Work Order Process.

A worked example. You run three welders and two lathes. You tag the welders with "Welding" and the lathes with "CNC Turning". Your "chassis" job has a welding step and a turning step. When you schedule it, the welding step only offers the three welders and the turning step only offers the two lathes — nobody can accidentally book a lathe onto the weld, or a welder onto the lathe.

Keep the list tidy​

  • Rename rather than duplicate. If a skill's name has drifted, edit it in place instead of adding a near-copy — every resource tagged with it comes along.
  • Two names must not mean the same thing. Bizconnekt keeps skill names unique so "Welding" and "welding" can't quietly become two separate capabilities.
  • A skill in use stays put. A skill that a resource currently holds is protected, so tidying the list can't leave a resource tagged with something that no longer exists.

Need help? Contact support at support@bizconnekt.com