Configure skills heatmap colours and thresholds

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The organisation and team heatmaps displays skill metrics for organisations, audiences, positions, and users across the site. Each metric is represented using a colour-coded scale, allowing Site Administrators, Staff Managers, and Trainers to quickly identify areas of strength and areas requiring attention.

The colours and percentage thresholds used in the heatmap are configurable, allowing Site Administrators to tailor the visual scale to match organisational reporting standards or accessibility requirements.

To configure the heatmap settings, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Quick-access menu > Plugins (/admin/plugins.php).

  2. Under Local plugins, select Totara Skills, then select General.

  3. In the Thresholds Configuration field, edit the JSON configuration and locate the section beginning with heatmap_thresholds.

  4. For each threshold range required, specify the min and max percentage values, the heatmap value colour, and the textColor to be displayed on the heatmap. See Configuration settings for more information.

  5. Click Save changes.

Once saved, the updated thresholds and colours are applied automatically wherever the organisation and team heatmap are displayed.

The Thresholds Configuration field accepts raw JSON. Incorrect formatting may prevent the heatmap from displaying correctly, so any changes should be reviewed carefully before saving.

Threshold colours

The heatmap uses a threshold configuration that maps percentage ranges to specific colours. By default, thresholds are set in 10% increments, with a colour palette that runs from red (lower values) through orange (medium values) to green (higher values).

The Proficiency metric treats higher percentages as a positive outcome, so higher percentages are shown in green. For the Expired and About to expire metrics, this scale is automatically inverted, since a higher percentage for these metrics represents a less desirable outcome. For example, a colour assigned to the 90–100% threshold for the Proficiency metric is automatically applied to the 0–10% threshold for the Expired and About to expire metrics.

Configuration settings

The following settings can be configured to control how skills heatmaps are displayed.

Setting

Description

Notes

Thresholds Configuration

JSON configuration field defining the percentage ranges and associated colours used by the heatmap.

Located under the heatmap_thresholds section of the configuration.

min

Lower bound of the percentage threshold range.

Expressed as a whole number, e.g. 0.

max

Upper bound of the percentage threshold range.

Expressed as a whole number, e.g. 10.

value

Hexadecimal colour code applied to the heatmap cell for this threshold range.

For example:

#AB0215

textColor

Hexadecimal colour code applied to the text displayed within the heatmap cell for this threshold range.

For example:

#000000

The default colour palette ranges from red (#AB0215-style tones) for lower values, through orange for medium values, to green (for example #2C8643) for higher values.

Next steps

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