Choosing workforce and competency
management software.

Treat competency as a delivery dependency

On infrastructure work, who can do a job is defined by more than a name on a rota. Street works (NRSWA) qualifications, CSCS cards, CPCS or NPORS plant operator cards, EUSR utility registrations, confined space and first aid training, and client authorisations can all decide whether a gang is fit to start. Utilities, telecoms, fibre and civils programmes each add requirements of their own.

Before comparing suppliers, list the competencies that actually stop work in your operation, and pick a real job that needs several of them.

Keep one reliable record for each person

Competency data tends to be scattered across HR systems, training spreadsheets, card photos on phones and paper files in the depot. Look for one record per person that holds competencies, expiry dates, supporting evidence and availability, and that managers, supervisors and the worker can each see in the way they need.

Ask who can add or verify a competency, what evidence is stored and how changes are audited.

Plan ahead for expiries and renewals

A card that expires next month is a planning problem today. Ask how the system shows upcoming expiries across the workforce, how renewals are tracked and whether managers can see the effect on future allocations rather than finding out on the morning of the job.

In a demonstration, expire a key competency for one person in a booked gang and follow what happens next.

Connect competencies to gang allocation

Competency management is most useful at the point of allocation. When a planner builds a gang or moves a job, they should see whether the people assigned hold what the work requires, alongside availability, vehicles and plant. Supervisors should be able to follow the work allocated to their teams without a separate chain of messages.

Ask how requirements are attached to job types or gang roles, and how the system responds to a mismatch: does it warn, block or simply record?

Give the field team a clear working day

Field users need their assigned jobs, checklists and evidence tasks on a phone, with timesheets and clock-on where you use them. Workers may also need to show their own cards on site or update their availability.

Include a supervisor and a field user in the evaluation, and confirm what happens when a device loses connectivity. Do not assume every action is available offline.

Prove competence after the event

When a client audit, incident investigation or dispute asks who was on site and whether they were qualified, the answer should come from the record rather than from memory. Check whether the system keeps a history of who was allocated to each job and which competencies they held at the time.

Ask how that history is reported, who can see it and how long it is kept.

Questions to ask in a demonstration

• Which competencies, cards and authorisations can be recorded, and with what evidence?
• How are upcoming expiries shown, and who is told?
• Can competency requirements be linked to job types or gang roles?
• What happens when a planner allocates someone who does not hold a required competency?
• What can supervisors and field users see on their own devices, and what works offline?
• Is there a history of who was allocated to a job and what they held at the time?
• How does competency data relate to your HR, payroll or training systems?

How Stratal approaches workforce and competency

Stratal workforce connects employee records, competencies, availability and assignments, with a workforce control room for seeing readiness alongside the resources needed for delivery. Gangs and job assignments are organised in the context of programme planning.

In the field, My Work and My Day provide assigned jobs, checklists and evidence workflows, with timesheets, clock-on and worker self-service. The Field PWA and configured offline packs support work when connectivity is interrupted.