Introduction to Competency Tests and Assessments

Introduction

The competency module includes two types of exams to measure staff members’ ability to perform their jobs. Whereas a Test is assigned to an individual to complete themselves, an Assessment is assigned to a supervisor or examiner who will perform the assessment on the individual. Tests that include free-text questions are not marked automatically: once submitted, they await review until an examiner with the Competency: Mark Competency Tests permission has marked the free-text answers. Tests can measure knowledge, while assessments can be used to evaluate the ability of a staff member to perform a task. In both cases, the exams are produced as templates which can be composed in a Designer area. These templates can be revised over time like documents and they can be assigned repeatedly to a number of users, as well as reissued to the same user periodically. All the exam results are stored in the system, as part of the individual’s staff profile and in the competency area for administrative use. Their visibility is fully controllable through permissions and by organisational unit to respect individuals’ privacy.

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The article Competency Tests covers all related topics over multiple sections in one paper. 

The article Competency Assessments - Part 1 - Introduction takes you to the beginning of a series of articles where each topic is covered separately.