Competencies

Use the Competencies wizard to load competencies and assign them to jobs in Dayforce.

Core competencies automatically apply to all employees and can't be linked to specific jobs. All of the other competencies must be linked to at least one job. You can assign because many jobs as needed for each competency.

You can use the Competency Name as the employee identifier column to identify individual records. Activate installs the competency category based on the unique values given in the Competency Category field.

Important: Before installing, make sure that the data in the templates is correct. There’s no .xml for you to use for comparison.

Note: If a competency with the same name already exists in Dayforce, you can't upload or update it with this wizard. You can either edit it directly in Dayforce or clear the existing configuration and use the Competencies wizard to refresh the configuration.

Prerequisites

If you’re assigning competencies to jobs, the jobs must already exist in Dayforce.

Using this wizard

You do the following in the Competencies wizard:

Confirm that you’ve completed the required steps

Before starting, you must confirm that you’ve created all jobs in Dayforce.

If you haven't created all job types in Dayforce, you can't continue with this work.

Complete and upload the Competency Data template

Use the Competency Data template to upload each competency that you want to migrate.

Note: You can also download an empty Competencies template from the Download Template Files page.

Note: The Activate release version shows in cell B3 on the Instructions tab of the template. This information helps you later determine the version of Activate you were using when you downloaded the template.

Review and edit the uploaded competency data

The wizard creates a summary of the information uploaded from the template. If you find any errors or missing information, you can correct the template document and upload it again. Or, you can correct the data on the review page. You must resolve all errors to continue.

Note: The Competency Name is the same as the employee identifier. This name can help you identify individual records when resolving errors.

Data uploaded with this template

• Competency Name
• Competency Description
• Effective Start Date
• Is Core Competency
• Competency Category

There must be no errors to continue to the next page.

Assign the competencies to jobs in Dayforce

Core competencies automatically apply to all employees. They can't be linked to specific jobs. The other competencies must be linked to at least one job. You can assign because many jobs as needed for each competency. You’re required to select at least one job name for every competency name showed in the grid.

Install the competency information in Dayforce

When the competency information is complete in Activate, install it in Dayforce.

Messages: Error, Warning, and Information

Activate sorts each generated message by severity:

Error codes

Actively incompatible with the data in Dayforce. If you have a data error, you must resolve the error before you can complete the installation.

Warning codes

Indicate nonstandard setup that could potentially cause an error in Dayforce. For example, if an earning code is defined as Hours x Rate and the data is amount only, the system creates a warning. However, you can still import the data into the system.

Informational codes

A notable occurrence of data in the system. For example, an informational note shows if codes are dropped from the YTD import.

Tasks

To confirm that you’ve completed the required steps:

1. In Activate Central, click Build Dayforce and the Build Dayforce wizards show.
2. Click Competencies.
3. If you created all jobs in Dayforce, select the checkbox.
4. If you haven’t created all jobs in Dayforce, exit this wizard and create the jobs in Dayforce.
5. Click Next.

To complete and upload the Competency Data template:

1. On the Upload Competencies page, click Download.

   You can download empty CompetencyData.xml and CompetencyJobData.xml templates from the Download Template Files page. Use the Profile menu () to access the Download Template Files page.

2. Select the location where you want to save the template document.
3. Open the CompetencyDataTemplate.xls template on your computer.
4. On the CompetencyData tab, complete all columns with the data for all competencies that the organization uses.

   Note: The Activate release version shows in cell B3 on the Instructions tab of the template. This information helps you later determine the version of Activate you were using when you downloaded the template.

   Note: Instructions for populating the fields are in the section (below) and on the Instructions tab of the template.

5. Click Save and close the document.

   You can use any file name for the template you upload. The file must be an Excel or CSV (Comma-Separated Value) document and contain the data in the required format.

   Important: Don’t change the name of the tab in the template. Activate uses the tab name to validate that the correct template is being uploaded. In addition, don’t change the column headings.

6. On the Upload Competencies page, click Upload.
7. Go to the completed Competency Data Template document in the location where you saved it.
8. Select Open. Activate validates the uploaded file.

   Note: If the uploaded file has errors, a Validation-Failed message shows in red at the bottom of the page. This message indicates what the errors are. You must correct the errors in the file on your computer and upload the file again.

   Note: When you upload an Excel or CSV file in an Activate wizard, Activate includes the name of the uploaded file in the name of the XML file it generates. Activate then loads the file to the Dayforce File Server. The format of the generated XML file name is <NamespaceName>_<Import Type>_<file name provided>_YYY-MM-DD_HHMM. The file name makes it easier to audit files later, if needed.

9. Click Next.

To assign competencies to jobs in Dayforce:

Note: This page doesn’t show if you loaded only core competencies on the Competencies page.

1. On the Competency Job Assignments page, for each competency name, select a job name. The Job Name drop-down lists the existing jobs in Dayforce. You’re required to select a job name for every competency name in the grid.
2. Select Next.

To review and confirm the summary information:

1. On the Summary page, review the competencies that are about to be loaded, including:
   • Total number of competencies to be loaded
   • Number of core competencies
   • Number of job-specific (noncore) competencies
   • Total number of competency categories to be loaded
2. To make updates to data on the page:

   • To insert a new row in the grid, click the row where you want to insert it and click New.

   • To save information in the grid to your computer, click Download File and save it to the location you want. The download file includes only the following information: Employee Number, First Name, Last Name, Effective Start Date, and the respective global properties and values selected.

   • To delete a row, click the row and click Delete.

   • To upload the file from your computer, locate the file and click Upload File. The data in the file shows in the grid.

   • To download the error message list and save it to your computer, click Download Errors File. The document lists the Severity, Employee Identifier, Column Name, Message, and Value for each item.

   • To remove changes that you don’t want to save, click Refresh.

    

3. If all information is correct, select the checkboxes to the right of:
   • Total number of competencies to be loaded Total number of competency categories to be loaded

   Note: You must select both checkboxes to continue with the installation.

   Note: If you loaded core competencies only and click Back on this page, the Review Competencies page opens.

4. Click Load.

To install the competencies information in Dayforce:

When the competency is complete in Activate, you must install the information in Dayforce.

1. On the Install page, click one of the following:
   • Add Email and enter your email address to receive an email when the installation process ends, instead of waiting for it to finish.
   • Next w hen the installation is complete.

   Activate Central opens with the wizard name now shown in green text and a green checkmark to the left of it. The day, date, and time of completion shows, along with your name as the user who completed the wizard. The environment in which the installation was applied (Stage, Config, or Train) is also shown.

   Note: If you want to add more information, click I want to add more.

To add a new competency:

To correct errors in the grid:

1. Click in the field containing the error.
2. Enter or select the correct information. If you make a change by mistake and haven't saved the change, click Refresh to undo the change. To navigate in the grid, click Tab to move to the right and Shift+Tab to move to the left on a row. Use the scrollbars on the right side and bottom of the grid to go to other areas of the grid.
3. Repeat this process for every error.
4. Click Save. Activate verifies the information again.
5. Click Next.

Results

The data is uploaded to the Performance Setup > Competency Setup page in Dayforce.

Note: You can assign Performance Admin access to Managers with the Employee Management Structure Wizard.

Fields populated in Dayforce

The data uploaded from the Competency Data template populates the fields on the following pages in Dayforce.

Dayforce fields the Compentency Data template updates

Field in Template	Field in Dayforce	Page in Dayforce
Competency Name	Competency Name	Performance Setup > Competency Setup, Competencies tab
Competency Description	Description
Effective Start Date	Effective Start Date
Is Core Competency	Core Competency
Competency Category	Competency Category

Next steps

Complete the next wizard, as appropriate.

Competency Data template fields

All templates have the same basic structure:

• Instructions tab: Helps you understand the purpose of the data and complete the fields in the template.
• Data tab: Contains headers for the data to be included in the template. The headers remain the same, but you can change the column order. If you add more columns, Activate ignores them.

All number ranges in the templates include the numbers at both ends of the range.

Competency Name (Required)

Field information for the Competency Name field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
1	String1 between 1-128 characters.	Competency name. All names should be unique.	Business Spanish CPR Certification	The Competency Name is used to identify the competency in Dayforce HCM and in other import files.

¹ Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Competency Description (Required)

Field information for the Competency Description field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
2	String1 between 1-1000 characters.	Competency description.	Business fluency in Spanish	The Competency Description provides more detail about the competency.

¹ Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Effective Start Date (Required)

Field information for the Effective Start Date field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
3	Date (Excel right-justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd).	Start date for when jobs or employees can start being assigned to this competency.	Date formatted cells: 09/24/2015 24/09/2015 Text formatted cells: 2015-09-24.	This date identifies when this competency can start being assigned to employees.

Is Core Competency (Required)

Field information for the Is File Competency field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
4	Accepted Values:YES NO	Indicate if the competency is a core competency that is automatically assigned to all employees, regardless of their job. Competencies that aren’t core competencies are associated with specific jobs.	YES NO	Required to determine whether the competency is assigned to all employees, or only to employees in specific jobs.

Competency Category

Field information for the Competency Category field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
5	String1 between 1-64 characters.	Specify the Competency category, if needed.	Languages Management Media	The Competency Category enables related competencies to be grouped together

¹ Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Competency Job Data template fields

Competency Name (Required)

Field information for the Competency Name field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
1	String1 between 1-128 characters.	Competency name. This name must match an existing competency name included in the Competency import template. Don’t include core competencies. They can’t be associated with specific jobs.	Business Spanish CPR Certification	The Competency Name identifies the competency in Dayforce HCM and in other import files.

¹ Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Job Name (Required)

Field information for the Job Name field

Order	Data Type	Description	Examples	Why This Is Needed
2	String1 between 1-1000 characters.	Job name. This name must match an existing job name in Dayforce HCM.	Accountant Machinist Store Manager	The Job Name identifies the job in Dayforce HCM that this competency applies to.

¹ Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &