How to schedule a workforce exercise, assign it to teams or individuals, and set a pass threshold with optional upskilling auto-assignments.
Platform role required: Workforce Manager
Glossary: scenario vs. exercise
A scenario is a story that acts as a template for an exercise. An exercise is a playable instance of a scenario that can be assigned to participants.
How to schedule an exercise
1. From the main navigation menu, select Exercise > Workforce Exercising.
2. Click Schedule Exercise in the upper right-hand corner.
3. From the Schedule Exercise step, select a scenario from the catalog.
You can select one of our pre-populated off-the-shelf scenarios designed by experts at Immersive, or any custom scenarios you've created yourself.
Once you select a scenario, you can preview it before finalizing your choice by clicking the Preview button.
4. Click Select to use the selected scenario:
5. From the Details panel, provide the following information for the exercise:
- Exercise Title – defaults to the published name of the scenario
- Start Date (optional) – the date that assigned participants can begin working on the exercise. You can also set a specific time here, based on your own timezone as configured in the platform.
- Due date (optional) – indicates when the exercise must be completed
6. From the Assign Exercise panel, select the team(s) or individual(s) you want to assign this exercise to.
- Assign to organization – select this option to assign the exercise to all members of your organization who are registered on the platform. CAUTION - this will include your full global organization.
- Automatically assign to new users – select this option to assign all newly licensed users. This applies to brand new users and to existing users who've been given a new Workforce Exercising license. The exercise will automatically be assigned to any new users who join the organization before the scheduled end date (if an end date is specified).
Note: A team assignment includes all participants who are members of the given team at the moment the exercise is assigned. It's a static assignment – it won't automatically assign new team members to the exercise, or remove the assignment if individuals leave the team.
7. From the Set Pass Threshold panel, you can define the percentage score users must achieve to pass each risk area of the exercise.
For more information on the Pass Threshold functionality and how it can automatically assign upskilling content, refer to the Pass Threshold Detail section of this article.
8. Review the exercise settings and make any amendments.
9. Publish the exercise.
This will trigger email notifications to those assigned, alerting them of the assignment and any due date set.
Top tip: When assigning exercises, send additional communications to participants through your internal channels. Let them know how completing the exercise benefits the organization and them personally. Many of these topics are just as relevant to people's home lives.
Pass Threshold Detail
When running Workforce Exercising across an organization at scale, it's important that you can still easily identify and address strengths and weaknesses without having to drill down into individual response data. Automated assignment and exercise performance functionality addresses this challenge.
How do I set a pass mark on a workforce exercise?
When scheduling an exercise, you can choose to set a percentage-based pass threshold. To use this functionality, you need to:
- Have rank options switched on in the scenario you assign. This means that response options within the scenario have been categorized as either 'Great', 'Good', 'Okay', or 'Weak', with specific scores attached to each response type. Great responses are considered optimal; Good are beneficial but not ideal; Okay responses don't create further risk but also don't address the issue (a neutral behavior); and Weak responses are high-risk or problematic (what you absolutely don't want people to do in that scenario).
- Have at least one risk area selected within the scenario content. Pass threshold scores are applied separately across risk areas, enabling the identification of specific strengths and weaknesses and the provision of more targeted recommendations for further learning.
All workforce catalog scenarios already have risk area tagging assigned. You can also tag your own custom exercises when you create each part by selecting a risk area from the optional 'Pick a risk area' dropdown.
More information on selecting risk areas can be found in these Help Center articles:
Pass thresholds default to 80%, but you can adjust the threshold when setting up your exercise to make it higher or lower to meet your organization's requirements.
How are thresholds applied to individual risks in a scenario?
Pass thresholds are applied individually to risk areas within a scenario, so strengths in one area don't overshadow weaknesses in another, and appropriate follow-on content can be recommended.
For instance, if your scenario contains only one risk area (e.g., all questions are tagged to the 'device security' risk area), learners need to score 80% overall to pass. If your scenario contains more than one risk area (e.g., some questions are tagged to 'device security' and some to 'social engineering'), learners need to score 80% in each risk area to pass. If someone scores 90% on device security questions and 70% on social engineering questions with a pass threshold of 80%, they'll still fail the exercise overall – and we'd recommend they complete further learning on social engineering.
It can be helpful to understand the scoring mechanisms used in workforce exercise rankings, particularly if you're using shorter exercises or those with only one question in a risk area. For a scenario with a single question, scoring is as follows:
- A 'Great' answer = 100% score.
- A 'Good' answer = 75% score.
- An 'Okay' answer = 50% score.
- A 'Weak' answer = 25% score.
What is quick fail?
You can turn on the 'Quick fail' option alongside a pass threshold. This means that even if someone scores above the pass threshold for an area overall, they'll still automatically fail the exercise if they select a single 'Weak' answer. Enabling this option prevents people from passing an overall threshold while still demonstrating a very high-risk behavior in a specific area that it would be beneficial to address.
How do I auto-assign upskilling content where needed?
If you have the pass threshold turned on, you can also choose to auto-assign further upskilling content to those who fail the exercise. This upskilling content consists of Immersive Labs-created lab collections designed to focus explicitly on the risk areas assessed within exercises. When you choose to auto-assign upskilling content, the platform identifies which risk areas are assessed within the scenario you've selected and displays the associated lab collections that will be assigned based on performance.
The automatic assignment is based on exercise performance. Only those who fail the exercise receive upskilling content, and that content is linked directly to the areas they failed.
For example, imagine you choose a scenario with two risk areas ('device security' and 'social engineering'), set a pass threshold of 85%, and don't turn on quick fail:
- Learner A completes the exercise and scores 90% on both device security and social engineering questions. They pass and no further content is assigned.
- Learner B completes the exercise and scores 75% on device security and 90% on social engineering. They fail and are automatically assigned the 'Device Security' lab collection only. They are NOT assigned the 'Social Engineering' lab collection.
- Learner C completes the exercise and scores 75% on both device security and social engineering. They fail and are automatically assigned BOTH the 'Device Security' and 'Social Engineering' lab collections.
It's not currently possible to select alternative upskilling content (e.g., alternative or custom lab collections, additional exercises).
Do I need to set different deadlines for the exercise and upskilling content?
When scheduling an exercise with automated assignment functionality, you'll need to choose separate deadline dates for the initial scenario/exercise and the follow-on upskilling content assigned to learners who fail. You'll be guided through this as part of the exercise scheduling process.
We recommend setting the upskilling content deadline at least 3–4 weeks after the initial scenario deadline, to make sure that learners who complete the initial scenario close to the deadline and fail still have enough time to complete the assigned labs. If your scenario contains multiple risk areas and learners fail all of them, they'll be assigned multiple lab collections – so it's worth thinking realistically about how much time you want to allow.
What happens to those who don't start or complete the initial exercise before the deadline?
Learners who don't start or complete the exercise before the deadline won't receive any associated upskilling content. Automatic assignments only go to those who complete the initial exercise.
You can download a list of users who haven't completed the exercise from the exercise results area. This list is provided in a format that lets you bulk upload these users into a specific group on the platform in the future if you wish.
What about those who don't start or complete their upskilling content before the deadline?
Learners who don't start or complete the upskilling content before the deadline won't complete the overall exercise assignment and won't show as complete in Audit reporting.
What will I see in my assignments?
You'll need to be a workforce manager to use the auto-assignment feature. You'll see your assigned exercise in the 'Managed by me' area of the platform, along with any assigned upskilling labs.
As a learner, you'll see the exercise assignment and any automatically assigned lab collections in the 'Assigned to me' area of the platform.
What will I see in my results?
As a manager, you can view a summary of your exercise results by selecting Reports, and Capability by Area.
In this area, you'll see a breakdown of user progress, including:
- Average Decision Score
- Average Confidence Score
- Completion rate
- Number of users who have been assigned an exercise
- Number of users who have completed an exercise
If you've set up auto-assignment of upskilling content, you'll also see:
- The proportion of users who have been assigned upskilling content.
- The proportion of users who have completed this upskilling content.
If no further learning has been assigned because all learners passed the exercise, that will also be displayed.
You can also select 'View Exercise Results' on this page to access more detailed performance reporting, including a downloadable audit table.
You can also access this reporting directly from Reports > Capability by Area > Workforce Exercising, then select the individual exercise using the 'Exercise Name' dropdown.
You need to be a workforce manager to access this information.
As a learner, you'll see a breakdown of your performance across all risk areas included in the exercise (a minimum of one and up to a maximum of eight risk areas), plus links to any automatically assigned upskilling collections.
What information is included in the Exercise Audit Table?
The exercise audit table currently includes the following information:
| Column | Definition |
| user_email | The email set against the account of the assigned user. |
| workforce_exercise_name | The name of the workforce exercise. |
| workforce_exercise_closed_at | The UTC datetime (precision in seconds) the workforce exercise was closed, either manually by manager or by the pre-configured end date being reached, or by all assigned users completing the exercise. |
| workforce_exercise_assigned_at | The UTC datetime (precision in seconds) the workforce exercise was assigned to the user. |
| workforce_exercise_completed_at | The UTC datetime (precision in seconds) that the workforce exercise was completed by the user. |
| pass_threshold_enabled | True if the pass threshold toggle was enabled on the exercise, false if not (default). |
| pass_threshold_value | The pass threshold value configured if pass threshold enabled, null if pass_threshold_enabled = false. |
| pass_threshold_quickfail_enabled | True if the quickfail toggle was enabled on the exercise, null if pass_threshold_enabled=false. If this is set as true the user will fail the risk area if they select the weak option as an inject response. |
| pass_threshold_auto_assignments_enabled | True if auto-assignments are enabled on the workforce exercise, null if pass_threshold enabled = false. |
| number_of_failed_risk_areas | If pass_threshold_enabled, the count of risk areas failed in the user's workforce playthrough against the pass_threshold_value and quickfail setting. If pass_threshold_enabled=false this value is null. |
| number_of_auto_assignments | If pass_threshold_auto_assignments is enabled, the number of assignments of follow-on content to the user from their exercise playthrough results. If pass_threshold_enabled = false then this value is null. |
| number_of_completed_auto_assignments | If pass_threshold_auto_assignments is enabled, the number of assignments of follow-on content completed by the user. If pass_threshold_auto_assignments=false this value is null. |
| all_tasks_completed_at | The UTC datetime (precision in seconds) that the user completed all tasks related to the workforce exercise. If pass_threshold_auto_assignments_enabled = true, this is when the user completed the final auto-assigned content (if they were auto-assigned content); otherwise it's the timestamp they completed the workforce exercise. |
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise but their access is revoked?
The user will still appear in the table and assignment.
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise but all their licenses are revoked?
The user will still appear in the table and remain part of the assignments, but the workforce assignment won't appear for the end user. The user no longer appears in the platform (e.g., in the users area).
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise but their workforce exercising license is revoked?
The user will still appear in the table and remain part of the assignments, but the workforce assignment won't appear for the end user.
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise via a team assignment but is then removed from the team?
The user will still appear in the table, as they're not removed from the assignment.
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise but is removed before the exercise closes and before they started a playthrough (removed via any method)?
The user won't appear in the table, as they're removed from the assignment.
What if a user is assigned the workforce exercise, completes it, and is then removed (via any method)?
The user will appear in the table as a user who has completed the workforce exercise, because a user who has completed the exercise can't be removed.