Three Layered structure

Terms are organized at three levels. At Layer 1 terms are aggregated, normalized for spelling differences, acronyms and synonyms

At Layer 2, terms are grouped together based on their similarity

At Layer 3, terms and groups of terms are connected or associated with each other

Three types of Associations

One, where terms or group of terms are associated as children under a node

Two, where terms or groups of terms are associated as surrogate children from another branch

Three, terms or groups of terms are associated as relatives.

The three types are also indicative of the closeness of relevance to terms

Thus we have both, a hierarchical construct as well as a graphical construct in the taxonomy

Proxy Names

Sometimes the way a term is referred to within the tree structure can be different from the way one would search for the term. For example, within a tree we may have “Speaking Language” as parent and languages like English, Hindi, French as its children. However in search we would include Speaking English, Speaking Hindi, Speaking French as the search phrases. We call these Proxy terms.

One to many relationships

The corollary of the above is that there can be one to many relationships. A skill or a group of skills can be associated with one or more branches. This is reflective of the skills landscape as it is. An Electrician and his activities could be part of a tree or Engineering or Skills Trade. But then when we are in say Oil & Gas we could have occupations of Electrician. But the activities and skills are almost similar in both.

This in fact is the beauty of the skills space. Skills given their contextual alignment bring enormous possibilities for deployment of human talent. Seen from another angle such multi-contextual application is complex when it comes to organizing skills.

Searchability

Not all the terms within ISOT is searchable so as to ensure smoothness in search or better discoverability

Tagging

Skills are tagged so that different type of properties can be assigned to a group of skills with similar behavior and classified under a tag.

Proficiency Rating

Proficiencies are a an important measure when it comes to skills. IYS uses a four point scale for indicating proficiencies. And the proficiencies vary based on the nature of the skill. For example domain experience is better differentiated based on years of experience. Whereas for Programming overall years of experience itself may not be a good measure.

Roles

In ISOT different roles are assigned to different Areas. For example, in Software Development we may have roles such as Development, Architecting and Project Management. Activities performed in these roles are different. Also the soft skills required for these roles are different.

ISOT recommends soft skills that could be relevant if one is playing that role.

Note: Titles are not same as Roles. Titles are typically indicative of function and position in an organization hierarchy. Roles are typically centered around skills required for the role. We could have a Title of Software Developer but multiple roles within this such as Web Developer, Blockchain Developer

Ordering of skills

A group of skills under a node can be ordered in different areas. The ordering can vary based on context. In some cases we may want the order to be Alphabetical and in some cases based on popularity

Scalability

ISOT is modeled in such a way that the taxonomy can be scaled seamlessly horizontally and vertically. And gives flexibility to accommodate changes or edits to existing constructs and not just new constructs

The design also gives room to accommodate specific requirements of organizations to add skills specific to their organizations and to be visible only to that organization.