Summary
A step-by-step guide to using the Competency Map Builder (also known as the Competency Mapper) to create competency maps, automatically populate them with relevant courses, refine them, and export them to the KnowledgeCity LMS.
Introduction
The Competency Map Builder is a KnowledgeCity tool for designing competency maps — structured lists of the skills (competencies) your learners need, together with the training courses that build each one. A competency map lists several areas of competence (such as “Strategic Thinking” or “Customer Focus”) and, for each one, recommends courses across one or more proficiency levels (for example, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced). Once a map is complete, you can export it to Excel or push it directly into the KnowledgeCity LMS as ready-to-assign course lists and learning paths. This article explains how to access the builder, create and configure a map, understand how courses are matched to competencies, refine the results, and export your work.
Key Concepts
Competency — an area of competence you want to develop (e.g. “Decision Making”). Each map contains several competencies.
Level — a stage of proficiency within a competency. You choose how many levels a map has (1–5); they are labelled automatically (for example, Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced).
Skill & Skill Level — behind the scenes, each competency is broken down into skills, and courses are matched to those skills. A course’s skill level (Essential, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) determines which competency level it is placed under.
Course vs. Skill view — two ways of viewing the same map: by the recommended courses or by the underlying skills.
Project — a container that groups related competency maps so you can organize your work.
Portal — the client catalog that courses are sourced from when building a map.
Steps to Follow
Accessing the Competency Map Builder
Open the Competency Map Builder at the /competency-map-builder path on your portal (for example, https://<your-portal>.knowledgecity.com/competency-map-builder).
The dashboard opens, showing your existing maps in the left-hand panel. If you have none yet, the workspace is empty.
Use the Add competency map button (top-left) to begin a new map. The Show archived maps toggle reveals maps you have archived.
Step 1 — Choosing How to Create the Map
Click Add competency map. In the Create Competency Map window, choose one of two options:
Create from Scratch — start with a blank map and build it step by step.
Import Existing Map — import a competency map from an Excel or CSV file.
The steps below describe the Create from Scratch path.
Step 2 — Basic Map Info and Structure
On the first screen, define the overall shape of your map:
Name of Competency Map (required) — a descriptive title, e.g. “Leadership Development Competency Map”.
Count of Levels — the number of proficiency levels (1–5). This specifies the number of competency levels (for example, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced); each level represents a deeper stage of knowledge and skill development.
Portal Main Categories — the catalog categories courses may be drawn from (Business, Technology, Safety, Compliance, Finance). Uncheck any you want to exclude.
Count of Courses per Competency (required) — how many courses to include for each competency at each level (default 3).
Lock skill level — keeps matched courses fixed to their skill level when enabled.
Click Next Step to continue.
Step 3 — Course Details
Next, refine which courses the builder will consider:
Course Duration — include only courses within the selected length bands (from Under 10 minutes through 3+ hours).
Count of Courses per Skill — how many courses to match per underlying skill (default 3).
Language — the primary course language.
Creation Date — optionally restrict to courses created within a given recency (6 months up to 5 years), or None for no limit.
Minimum Localization Level — the minimum localization required, set per language:
L1 — captions are localized; the video is in its original language.
L2 — the video is localized (voice-over); on-screen text remains in the original language.
L3 — the video is fully localized, including voice-over and all on-screen text.
Click Create Competency Map.
Step 4 — Adding Competencies
After the map is created, the Add Competencies window appears. Enter your competency names, one per line (for example, “Strategic Thinking”, “Team Communication”, “Decision Making”), then click Add Competencies.
How Courses Are Matched to Competencies
The builder automatically populates each competency with relevant courses. For every competency name you enter, it identifies the related skills, retrieves matching courses (respecting the filters you set), and places each course under the appropriate level. This runs as a background process — you will see a Building competencies… progress bar, and each row shows a Building… indicator while it works.
Working with Your Map
The map page shows your competencies as rows and the proficiency levels as columns, with the recommended courses in each cell. Key controls on this page:
View mode: Course / Skill — switch between viewing recommended courses and the underlying skills.
Map completeness — an indicator of how fully the map is populated.
Add a new competency — add another competency to the map.
Level headers and competency rows include an edit (pencil) icon for renaming and fine-tuning.
Adding or Importing More Competencies
Use Import competencies on the map page to add several competencies at once — enter the names one per line and click Import. Enable Lock skill level if you want matched courses to stay at their original skill level.
Editing and Managing a Map
Click the gear icon to open Edit Competency Map, where you can rename the map, change its Portal Main Categories and Count of Courses per Competency, and access additional search filters under More options. From here you can also Archive Map, Delete Map, or Duplicate Map. Click Update to save your changes.
Exporting Your Map
Several export options are available from the map toolbar:
Export map to Excel — opens the Theme Editor, where you can brand the export with your logo, colors, fonts, and column titles, and choose whether to show course IDs and clickable course links. A live preview is shown before you export.
Export map to JSON — exports the map data in JSON format.
Print — produces a printable version of the map.
Exporting to the KnowledgeCity LMS
Click Export to LMS (top header) to push your map’s courses into the LMS. The builder collects the course lists from the competency maps in the current project; for each, you can toggle Create learning path. Click Run export to create a course list (and optionally a learning path) in the KnowledgeCity LMS for each selected map.
Organizing Maps with Projects
If you build many maps, use Create project (top header) to group related competency maps and keep your workspace organized. Give the project a name and description, then click Add. A Default project is provided automatically. Switch between projects using the project selector in the header.
Portal and Language
The header also shows the active Portal (the catalog courses are sourced from) and a language selector for the interface. Note that changing the portal applies only to newly created maps.
Conclusion
The Competency Map Builder makes it easy to translate the skills your organization needs into concrete, course-backed development plans. By defining a map’s structure, letting the builder match courses to each competency and level, refining the results, and exporting to Excel or directly into the KnowledgeCity LMS, you can stand up role-based learning paths quickly and consistently. As the tool is in Beta, expect continued enhancements over time.