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Spreadsheets are familiar, but they don’t show proficiency beyond “trained/certified.” This post introduces Covalent’s Trainer Endorsement and Harvey Ball Proficiency View—giving teams an at-a-glance, auditable way to understand progression and make faster staffing and training decisions.
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For years, many manufacturing teams have relied on a simple but familiar tool to track workforce training: the humble spreadsheet.
It’s understandable. Excel is easy to start with and everyone knows how to use it. But as teams grow, products evolve, and requirements change, something gets lost in translation: a clear understanding of where each individual truly stands on their journey from new trainee to fully capable operator—and ultimately, to a trainer.
At Covalent, we’ve spent years helping companies digitize their training workflows. We’ve made it easier to move beyond paper checklists and track training all the way to certification. But we’ve also heard a consistent message from our customers: the journey doesn’t end at “certified.”
Most organizations we talk to face a common challenge: they know when someone is trained, but they don’t have a solid grasp of where that person is in their full skill progression. Are they just getting started? Are they well into their training cycle? Are they ready to step up and actually teach others? Without a more granular way to track proficiency, it’s all too easy to lose sight of these nuances.
Spreadsheets can only take you so far. They’re great for lists and snapshots, but they struggle to capture the dynamic nature of skill development. They can’t easily show you who’s in the early stages of training versus who’s nearing the finish line, or who has crossed that final threshold to become a recognized trainer.
That’s why we’re excited to introduce two new capabilities that take Covalent’s training workflows to the next level.
First, Trainer Endorsement: a structured, auditable workflow that lets you define exactly what it takes for someone to go from “qualified” to “trainer.” You can set prerequisites, add sign-offs for supervisor approval, and automatically grant trainer roles without manual admin work. It’s about making trainer qualification intentional and transparent.
Second, the Harvey Ball Proficiency View: a visual language that lets you see at a glance where each person is in their skill progression. Instead of just “trained or not trained,” you can track if they’re in early training, nearing certification, or fully endorsed as a trainer. It’s a shared, intuitive way to understand workforce capability at a deeper level.
By extending training workflows beyond certification and making proficiency progression visible, we’re giving teams a powerful new tool. It’s not just about tracking who’s completed a training module. It’s about understanding the full journey of each worker—where they are today and where they’re headed tomorrow.
In practical terms, this means supervisors can make faster, more confident decisions. They can see if someone is still early in their training or nearing certification. They can quickly identify who’s been fully endorsed as a trainer, and even spot opportunities to leverage skilled workers in new ways. And for companies that have relied on spreadsheets or informal methods, it’s a chance to bring all of that insight into a single, shared system that grows with them.
Ultimately, what we’re offering is a clearer path to understanding and managing workforce proficiency. It’s about moving beyond “trained or not” and embracing a more nuanced, visual way to track skill progression. By formalizing the trainer endorsement process and making proficiency visible, we’re helping teams not just keep track of training, but truly understand their workforce’s evolving capabilities.
And that, in turn, means more informed decisions, better planning, and a stronger, more flexible operation.
If you'd like to learn more, get in touch with our team here.
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