---
title: "What are skills heatmaps?"
slug: "what-are-skills-heatmaps"
tags: ["Explainer", "Totara Skills"]
updated: 2026-10-08T07:25:59Z
published: 2026-10-08T07:25:59Z
canonical: "totara.help/what-are-skills-heatmaps"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What are skills heatmaps?

Heatmap views in Totara Skills provide a visual way to review [skills](/totara-20/docs/what-are-skills-1) data across teams and the wider organisation. They allow managers and administrators to see at a glance where users are proficient, where skills are missing or expiring, and where development effort may be needed.

Two heatmap views are available: the [organisation heatmap](/totara-20/docs/view-skills-heatmap-for-your-organisation), which supports broad workforce readiness reviews across hierarchies, and the [team heatmap](/totara-20/docs/view-skills-heatmap-for-your-team), which allows managers to focus on the skills of the people who report directly to them.

## Organisation heatmap

The organisation heatmap shows skill metrics for organisations, audiences, positions and users in the system. It is designed for reviewing workforce readiness across broader groups and for navigating deeper into the hierarchy until individual users are displayed.

For organisations, audiences and positions, the organisation heatmap can display the following metrics:

- **Proficiency:** The percentage of users who are proficient in a given skill
- **About to expire:** The percentage of users whose proficiency in a given skill is about to expire
- **Expired:** The percentage of users whose proficiency in a given skill has expired

## Team heatmap

The team heatmap helps managers review skills assigned to users whose manager they are. It focuses on the manager's team and shows the skill status or achieved skill level for each user.

## Heatmap structure

In both heatmap views, rows represent skills assigned to at least one user. By default, skills are grouped by their parent skill, but they can also be grouped by [competency roles](/totara-20/docs/what-are-competency-roles). Skills without a parent group are displayed under **Ungrouped**.

Columns represent the selected comparison dimension. In the organisation heatmap, columns can show organisations, positions or audiences, with users displayed after navigating deeper into the hierarchy. In the team heatmap, columns represent the users in the manager's team.

Cells display proficiency percentages, status icons, level indicators, or a dash when a skill is not assigned in that context. Colour coding helps readers quickly identify stronger and weaker areas.

![A manager's team skills heatmap.](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/image-TQAWRJRK.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-01T14%3A48%3A55Z&se=2026-11-01T15%3A48%3A55Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=3ImIZspbOExmiqCAXbcXEhLeT9LeHt1TOWBJRgIbYvU%3D)

## Heatmap colours and thresholds

Heatmap colours are based on threshold values configured by a Site Administrator. By default, thresholds use 10% increments and a palette that moves from red for lower values, through orange for medium values, to green for higher values.

> [!NOTE]
> For the **Expired** and **About to expire** metrics, the colour scale is inverted because higher percentages indicate a less desirable outcome. For example, a high proficiency percentage is positive, while a high expired percentage highlights a risk.

## Skills heatmap permissions

The following capabilities can be assigned for viewing and managing skills heatmaps.

| Capability | Description |
| --- | --- |
| local/totaraskills:heatmapviewall | Allows the user to view the heatmap for all organisations, positions, audiences and users in the system. |
| local/totaraskills:heatmapviewassigned | Allows the user to view heatmaps for organisations, positions and audiences assigned to a user through a job assignment (including its child assignments), as well as the users assigned to those instances. |
| local/totaraskills:heatmapviewmanagedusers | Allows the user to view the skills heatmap for their direct reports (i.e. users they manage). |

## Next steps

- [View skills heatmap for your organisation](/totara-20/docs/view-skills-heatmap-for-your-organisation)
- [View skills heatmap for your team](/totara-20/docs/view-skills-heatmap-for-your-team)
- [Configure skills heatmap colours and threshold values](/totara-20/docs/configure-skills-heatmap-colours-and-thresholds)

Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.

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