Troubleshooting — common messages
Use this when a user pastes an error message into Slack. Match the error or situation to the table below.
Rule: When uncertain, reproduce the issue in staging with a seeded clone of the customer's role mapping before answering.
| Error or situation | Meaning | First response |
|---|---|---|
| Access restricted (on Assessments or Templates) | The user's account doesn't have the Create assessments or Manage templates permission | Check Account Settings → Team → Edit access for that user, or switch to a primary admin account. Company staff need these toggles enabled. |
| Access restricted (on CSV Upload) | Only Platform and Directory admins can bulk import | Explain that CSV upload is operator-only. Offer the AI wizard or JD flow as alternatives. |
| Email mismatch error when accepting an invite | The user is signed into Skilladder with a different email than the one the invite was sent to | Ask them to sign out completely, then reopen the original invite URL |
Sign-in loop at /signin after accepting an invite | Mixed session cookies from a previous invite | Ask the user to clear site data for the Skilladder domain and sign in fresh |
| Question Bank shows no operator controls (no edit, no review queue actions) | The user has browse-only access — not operator level | Escalate to a Platform or Directory admin to perform the mutation |
| Pending invite badge on a team member row | The invite TTL elapsed before the recipient accepted | Resend the invite from the Team tab (primary admin or Platform admin only) |
| No Team Member Found message | The company is still being bootstrapped or the member wasn't added yet | Use Add Team Member in Account Settings → Team (primary admin or Platform admin only) |
| Export button is missing on the assessments list | The user doesn't have the View results & analytics permission (Staff viewer never has this) | Adjust the permission via Account Settings → Team → Edit access, or clarify the permission is not included in their role |
| Directory admin's sidebar has no Candidates menu | This is by design — Directory admins manage content, not hiring operations | Explain that the Candidates directory is only available to company administrator and operator roles |
| Partner iframe shows "Assessment is not available" | The assessment is in DRAFT status — partner links are blocked until it is published | Ask the program manager to set the assessment to LIVE in Settings → Core Settings before sharing the link |
| Candidate's short-answer questions are all marked wrong / score seems too low | This was a known bug (SKI-171) — all OEQ responses silently defaulted to incorrect. Fixed in this release; re-attempts will score correctly | If the candidate completed the assessment before the fix, they may need to retake it for an accurate score |
| Close Assessment button is missing on the Settings tab | The button only appears when the assessment is LIVE — it is intentionally hidden for DRAFT assessments | Confirm the assessment status in Core Settings; if it is LIVE and the button is still missing, check the user's role permissions |
| Assessment shows Offline — answers saved locally | The candidate's browser lost network during an assessment | Reassure them answers are kept in the tab. Ask them to reconnect and wait for Connected — answers synced before submitting. See Taking an assessment |
| Submit disabled during an assessment | Offline and/or answers still uploading after reconnect | Confirm internet is back and the connection bar shows Connected. If stuck on Reconnecting… for several minutes, refresh only as a last resort (same browser tab preserves local buffer when possible) |
| Candidate refreshed mid-assessment and lost recent typing | They may have closed the tab earlier, or answers had not synced before refresh | Explain autosave: short answers save after a brief pause; MCQ saves on selection. If offline, local saves exist only until the tab closes |
| "The deadline for this assessment has passed" while answering | Assessment deadline passed during the session | They can no longer save new answers or continue — expected behaviour |
Still stuck?
If the issue doesn't match any of the above, reproduce it in staging first. If it appears to be a product bug, escalate to #producttech_cooking with:
- The user's role (as seen in the Team tab)
- The exact error message or screenshot
- The URL where it occurred
- Approximate time of the event (helps with log correlation)