Agency Specialties

Agency Specialties represent the unique skills, qualifications, or operational roles within your organization. Examples include EMT, Rope Rescue Technician, K9 Handler, or Team Leader.

Specialties are powerful because they:

• Link to certification requirements (members must have specific certifications)
• Can auto-assign when members earn qualifying certifications
• Help organize your team by capabilities
• Improve readiness reporting

Subscription Requirement

Agency Specialties require a Team or Organization subscription plan.

Prerequisites

Before creating specialties, you must first create Certification Templates. Specialties require at least one certification to be activated.

See Record & Certification Templates

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Understanding Specialties

What Makes Specialties Different

Feature	Positions	Specialties
Based on	Organizational role	Certifications held
Requirements	None	Must have specific certifications
Auto-assignment	No	Yes (optional)
Examples	Team Leader, Safety Officer	EMT, SARTECH II, K9 Handler

Use Positions for organizational structure ("who reports to whom"). Use Specialties for qualifications ("who is certified to do what").

How Specialties Work

1. Create a specialty with a name and description
2. Add certification requirements (the certifications needed to qualify)
3. Activate the specialty (requires at least one certification)
4. Members qualify when they hold all required certifications
5. Assignment happens automatically or manually based on your settings

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Accessing Specialties

1. Navigate to Agency Settings in the left menu
2. Select the Agency Specialties tab

Required Permissions: Administrator

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Creating a Specialty

Step 1: Open the Form

Click Add Specialty in the upper right corner.

Step 2: Enter Basic Information

Field	Required	Description
Specialty Name	Yes	What members see (e.g., "K9 Handler", "Rope Rescue Tech")
Description	No	Explain what this specialty involves

Step 3: Configure Auto-Assignment

Toggle Auto Manage Assignments:

Setting	Behavior
ON (default)	Members are automatically assigned this specialty when they hold all required certifications. Assignments are locked — members cannot opt out.
OFF	Administrators must manually assign this specialty to members, even if they qualify.

When to Use Auto-Manage

• Enable for certifications that clearly define a role (EMT, Paramedic)
• Disable for specialties that require additional approval beyond certifications

Step 4: Add Certification Requirements

This is where you define what certifications a member needs to qualify for this specialty.

Understanding Requirement Groups

RAM uses a powerful AND/OR logic system for requirements:

Group 0 (Required — AND logic)

• All certifications in Group 0 are required
• Member must hold every single one
• Displayed with solid blue chips

Group 1+ (Alternative Groups — OR logic)

• Member needs at least ONE certification from each alternative group
• Multiple groups are combined with AND
• Displayed with dashed borders

Example: K9 Handler Specialty

Requirements:

• CPR (Group 0 — Required)
• First Aid (Group 0 — Required)
• K9 SAR Certification OR K9 Tracking Certification (Group 1 — Either one)

Logic: Member must have CPR AND First Aid AND (K9 SAR OR K9 Tracking)

Adding Requirements

1. Click in the Certificate Requirements area
2. Select certifications from the dropdown
3. For required certifications: they go in Group 0 (AND)
4. For alternatives: create Group 1+ to allow OR logic
5. You can add multiple alternative groups

Step 5: Activate the Specialty

Toggle Active Specialty to ON.

Activation Requirement

You cannot activate a specialty without at least one certification requirement. If you try, you'll see: "A specialty must have at least one certification requirement before it can be activated."

Step 6: Save

Click Create to save the new specialty.

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Specialty Examples

Emergency Medical

Specialty	Requirements (Group 0)	Alternative (Group 1)
EMT	EMT-Basic Certification	—
Paramedic	Paramedic Certification, ACLS	—
Medical Officer	CPR, First Aid	EMT-B OR Paramedic

Search & Rescue

Specialty	Requirements (Group 0)	Alternative (Group 1)
Ground Searcher	SARTECH I, Wilderness First Aid	—
Technical Searcher	SARTECH II, Map & Compass	—
K9 Handler	K9 Handler Certification, First Aid	SAR Dog Cert OR Tracking Cert

Technical Rescue

Specialty	Requirements (Group 0)	Alternative (Group 1)
Rope Technician	Rope Rescue Operations, First Aid	—
Swift Water Tech	Swift Water Rescue, CPR	—
Confined Space	Confined Space Ops, HAZWOPER	—

Fire/EMS

Specialty	Requirements (Group 0)	Alternative (Group 1)
Firefighter	Firefighter I, CPR, HAZMAT Awareness	—
Driver/Operator	Driver Training, EVOC	Pump Ops OR Aerial Ops
Fire Instructor	Firefighter II, Instructor I	—

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Editing Specialties

1. Find the specialty in the list
2. Click the edit icon (pencil)
3. Modify fields as needed
4. Click Update

What You Can Change

Field	Editable	Notes
Name	Custom specialties only	System defaults are locked
Description	Custom specialties only	System defaults are locked
Auto Manage	Yes	Applies going forward
Requirements	Yes	Changes affect future eligibility
Active Status	Yes	Can activate/deactivate anytime

System Default Specialties

Some specialties may come pre-configured (system defaults). For these:

• Name and description are locked
• You can still modify auto-manage and requirements
• They're marked with a "System Default" badge

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Activating and Deactivating

To Activate

1. Ensure at least one certification requirement is assigned
2. Toggle Active Specialty to ON
3. Save

Result: Specialty appears in assignment dropdowns and eligibility checks.

To Deactivate

1. Edit the specialty
2. Toggle Active Specialty to OFF
3. Save

Result:

• Hidden from new assignments
• Existing member assignments are preserved
• Can be reactivated later

tip

Deactivate instead of delete when you want to preserve history.

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Assigning Specialties to Members

Specialties are assigned on the team member's profile.

How Assignment Works

1. Go to Team Roster
2. Click on a member to edit
3. Navigate to the Member Info tab
4. Find the Specialties section

You'll see two areas:

Manually Assign Specialty

• Dropdown showing specialties with Auto Manage OFF
• Only shows specialties the member is eligible for
• Select multiple if needed
• You control the assignment

Auto-Assigned Specialties

• Read-only display of specialties with Auto Manage ON
• Shows which auto-managed specialties the member qualifies for
• Cannot be manually changed — based purely on certifications
• Updates automatically when certifications change

Eligibility

A member is eligible for a specialty when they hold all required certifications:

• All Group 0 (AND) certifications
• At least one from each Group 1+ (OR) group
• Certifications must be current (not expired)

If a member doesn't qualify, the specialty won't appear in their dropdown.

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Auto-Assignment in Action

When Auto Manage is enabled:

1. Member earns a certification
2. System checks if they now qualify for any auto-managed specialties
3. If they qualify, specialty is automatically assigned
4. Assignment shows as "Auto-Assigned" on their profile

When certifications expire:

1. System detects expired certification
2. Checks if member still qualifies
3. If not, auto-managed specialty is automatically removed
4. Manual assignments remain (admin must remove manually)

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Deleting Specialties

When You Can Delete

• No members currently assigned
• Not a system default specialty

When You Cannot Delete

• One or more members have this specialty assigned
• It's a system default (seeded) specialty

Solution: Deactivate instead of delete to preserve data integrity.

How to Delete

1. Click the delete icon (trash can)
2. Confirm the deletion

If deletion is blocked, a message will explain why and suggest deactivating instead.

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Best Practices

Naming

Do	Don't
"K9 Handler"	"K9" (too vague)
"Rope Rescue Technician"	"Rope Tech" (inconsistent)
"EMT-Basic"	"EMT" (be specific about level)

Requirements

1. Start minimal — Add only must-have certifications
2. Use OR groups wisely — When multiple certifications qualify someone
3. Consider expiration — Auto-assignment removes when certs expire
4. Test eligibility — Create a test member to verify requirements work

Auto-Manage Decisions

Enable Auto-Manage When	Disable Auto-Manage When
Certification = Qualification	Additional vetting needed
Clear-cut eligibility	Leadership approval required
Want automatic tracking	Want manual control

Organization

1. Create a plan first — List specialties before creating them
2. Group logically — Medical, Technical, Leadership, etc.
3. Keep it focused — Only create specialties you'll actually use
4. Review regularly — Deactivate unused specialties

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Troubleshooting

"Cannot activate specialty"

You're missing certification requirements. Add at least one certification template to the requirements before activating.

"Specialty not showing in assignment dropdown"

Check that:

1. Specialty is Active
2. Member is eligible (holds required certifications)
3. For manual assignment: Auto Manage is OFF
4. Certifications are not expired

"Member should qualify but doesn't"

Verify:

1. Member has ALL Group 0 certifications
2. Member has at least ONE from each Group 1+ group
3. All certifications are current (not expired)
4. Certifications match the exact templates in requirements

"Cannot delete specialty"

The specialty is either:

1. Assigned to one or more members (deactivate instead)
2. A system default specialty (cannot be deleted)

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Related Documentation

• Record & Certification Templates — Create the certifications that specialties require
• Team Management — Assign specialties to members
• Positions & Ranks — Organizational structure (different from specialties)
• Agency Getting Started — Setup order overview