Set Expected Training Duration for a New Hire Assignment
On a New Hire Assignment in Skyllful Studio, Administrators use the Duration tab to set how many days Learners are expected to take, starting with one default for the Assignment and then overriding it by job role, user tag, or individual Learner.
Which Assignments have a Duration tab?
Only New Hire Assignments. The Duration tab is active while the Assignment Types setting is New Hire, and inactive on every other type. A Campaign, Reference, or JITT Assignment runs on the single availability window at the top of the Assignment screen, where everyone shares the same start and end dates.
What does duration actually set?
A number of days, not a calendar window. It is how long a Learner is expected to take once their training starts.
The two work together and answer different questions:
Setting |
What it decides |
|---|---|
| Availability Start Date and Availability End Date | When the Assignment is open at all. Outside these dates there is nothing for anyone to work on. |
| Expected training duration | How many days each Learner has once their own training start date arrives. |
Note: Unless you set a training start date for someone, their training starts the day they were added to the Assignment. That is what makes New Hire Assignments work for a rolling intake: two people who join four months apart each get the same number of days, counted from their own start.
What are the four levels of duration?
The Duration tab holds four sections, from the broadest to the most specific. Skyllful applies the most specific one that fits a Learner.
Section |
What it sets |
What each row holds |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment Expected Training Durations | Assignment Default, the duration used when nothing more specific is set. | A number of Days. |
| Job Role Expected Training Durations | A duration for everyone holding a job role. | Job Role, Duration. |
| User Tag Based Expected Training Durations | A duration for everyone carrying a tag. This overrides both the Assignment default and the job role durations. | Tag, Duration, Training Start Date. |
| Individual Learner Expected Training Durations | A duration for one person. | Learner, Duration, Training Start Date. |
The order of priority runs from the bottom of that table up. A duration set for an individual Learner is the highest and wins over everything else. A tag duration comes next and overrides both the job role and the Assignment default. A job role duration overrides the Assignment default. Assignment Default applies to everyone nothing else covers.
Note: Only the tag and individual Learner sections carry a Training Start Date, which is how you start someone on a date other than the day they were added.
How do you set the durations?
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open the New Hire Assignment and click the Duration tab. |
| 2 | Under Assignment Expected Training Durations, enter the number of Days for Assignment Default. This is your baseline. |
| 3 | To vary the time by role, click the plus (+) icon on the Job Role Expected Training Durations heading and add the job role and its duration. |
| 4 | To vary it by tag, click the plus (+) icon on the User Tag Based Expected Training Durations heading and add the tag, its duration, and a training start date if the group should not start on the day they were added. |
| 5 | To set one person's time, click the plus (+) icon on the Individual Learner Expected Training Durations heading and add the Learner, their duration, and a training start date if needed. |
| 6 | Click Update. |
Note: You do not have to use all four levels. An Assignment Default on its own is a complete setup, and each section stays empty until you add a row to it. An empty section reads "No job roles have been added yet" or its equivalent.
Why does the expected duration matter beyond the Learner?
It is the yardstick Skyllful IQ measures pace against. A Learner is off pace relative to the days they were given, so a duration that does not match the real work makes IQ's pace reporting say very little. Set it to the time the training genuinely takes, and give a role or a person more days when the job demands it rather than leaving everyone on one number.
FAQ
Why is the Duration tab greyed out?
The Assignment is not a New Hire Assignment. Change Assignment Types to New Hire and the tab becomes available, or keep the single availability window that the other types use.
When does a Learner's clock start?
On their training start date. If you have not set one, it is the day they were added to the Assignment.
What happens if someone matches more than one rule?
The most specific setting wins. An individual Learner duration is the highest priority of all and overrides everything else. Below it, a tag duration overrides the job role and Assignment defaults, and a job role duration overrides the Assignment default.
Does duration control when a Learner can open the Assignment?
No. The availability start and end dates decide when the Assignment is open. Duration decides how long each Learner is expected to take inside that window.
Do I have to set a duration at all?
No, but IQ has nothing to measure pace against without one, so a New Hire Assignment with no durations set reports far less than it could.
Skyllful Knowledge Base | Administrators