How to Manage Training and Daily Practice

By following this guide, you will use training analytics dashboards, monitor organizational mastery, and leverage the spaced repetition daily practice system to build and sustain SMS competency.

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Training Module Overview

The training module is organized into several sections, each serving a distinct function: Navigate to Safety > Training and use the section tabs to switch between views.

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Course Catalog

The course library organizes training content by category aligned with SMS domains and regulatory requirements. Each course is tagged with the specific Part 5 section it addresses (e.g., 14 CFR 5.53 for hazard identification courses). These tags provide traceability from training activities to regulatory requirements.

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Assigning Training

Training assignments carry forward until completed or removed by an administrator. Removing an assignment does not delete historical completion records.

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Monitoring Training Compliance

Navigate to Safety > Training > Compliance for an organizational view of training currency.

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Training Analytics

The analytics dashboard is restricted to safety managers, accountable executives, and administrators. Navigate to Safety > Training > Analytics to access it.

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Mastery heatmap

A Role x Competency heatmap shows average mastery levels across your organization. Each cell represents how well a specific role group has mastered a specific competency domain. Color intensity indicates mastery level — darker cells indicate stronger mastery. This view quickly reveals organizational knowledge gaps.

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Engagement metrics

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Item bank health

The item bank health panel monitors the quality and coverage of your training content:

• Total items by status (active, draft, retired, flagged)
• Domain coverage gaps — competency areas with insufficient training items
• Low-exposure items that have not been presented to enough learners
• High-exposure items that may need refreshing

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Closed-loop safety integration

The analytics dashboard includes a panel linking safety events to competency gaps. When a safety report or investigation finding identifies a training-related contributing factor, this panel surfaces the connection between the event and the relevant training domain. This supports the continuous improvement cycle required by 14 CFR 5.75.

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Daily Practice (Spaced Repetition)

The daily practice system is the cornerstone of long-term knowledge retention in PlaneConnection’s training module. It uses the FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) algorithm combined with Elo-based adaptive difficulty to personalize each session for each learner.

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How it works

1. Short daily sessions. Each practice session presents approximately 10 items and takes about 5 minutes to complete. Sessions are designed to fit into operational schedules without disruption.
2. Adaptive difficulty. The system tracks each learner’s ability using an Elo-based rating engine. Items presented are calibrated to the learner’s current proficiency level — challenging enough to promote learning, but not so difficult as to be discouraging.
3. Spaced repetition scheduling. After answering each item, the learner rates their confidence (Again, Hard, Good, Easy). The FSRS algorithm uses this rating to schedule the item for future review at the optimal interval for retention. Items the learner finds difficult appear more frequently; well-known items are spaced further apart.
4. Mastery tracking. The system tracks mastery across eight competency levels (C1 through C8). As a learner demonstrates consistent correct responses over time, their mastery level increases. Mastery data feeds into training compliance records and SmartScore’s Proficiency component.

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Starting a practice session

Navigate to Safety > Training > Practice. The landing page shows:

• Due cards — how many items are scheduled for review today.
• Mastery summary — your current competency levels across all domains.
• Estimated time — how long the session should take based on due items.

Click Start Practice to begin. Answer each item, review the feedback, rate your confidence, and continue to the next item. At the end, a session summary shows your performance and any mastery level changes.

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Keyboard shortcuts

During a practice session, you can use keyboard shortcuts for efficient navigation:

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Exporting Training Records

Training records can be exported for regulatory inspections or internal audits:

1. Navigate to Safety > Training > Records.
2. Click Export in the page header.
3. Select the date range, personnel, and domains to include.
4. Download the CSV file.

Exported records satisfy 14 CFR 5.91 documentation requirements for safety competency training. Per 14 CFR 5.97, training records are retained for 24 months after an employee’s departure from the organization.

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