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SOPACT ACADEMY · AI SKILLS

What Are AI Skills?

AI Skills is the reusable library that makes every other pillar consistent — the data dictionary, the frameworks, the SROI method, the standards, the deterministic-output rule, and the brand voice, all packaged as skills. It isn't a course you take start to finish; it's the library every pillar reaches into, so a field means the same thing and an output reads the same way everywhere.

<style>.ci-wizard{--ink:#1A1915;--body:#3D3A33;--muted:#76716A;--surface:#FAF9F5;--surface2:#F1ECE2;--line:#E3DFD3;--line2:#D8D2C4;--accent:#C96442;position:sticky;top:24px;box-sizing:border-box;font-family:'Inter',system-ui,sans-serif;color:var(--body);background:var(--surface);border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:14px;padding:22px 20px}.ci-wizard *{box-sizing:border-box}.ci-wiz-eyebrow{font-family:'Newsreader',Georgia,serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);line-height:1.25}.ci-wiz-sub{font-size:12.5px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:3px;margin-bottom:4px}.ci-group{font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.12em;text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--muted);margin:18px 0 8px;padding-top:14px;border-top:1px solid var(--line)}.ci-group:first-of-type{border-top:0}.ci-steps{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0;display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:2px}.ci-step a,.ci-step{display:flex;gap:12px;align-items:flex-start;text-decoration:none;color:inherit}.ci-step a{padding:8px;margin:-8px;border-radius:10px;transition:background .15s;width:100%}.ci-step a:hover{background:var(--surface2)}.ci-step{padding:8px 0}.ci-step--soon{opacity:.5}.ci-num{flex:0 0 auto;width:26px;height:26px;border-radius:50%;display:grid;place-items:center;font-size:12.5px;font-weight:600;color:var(--muted);background:var(--surface2);border:1px solid var(--line2)}.ci-step-title{display:block;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;color:var(--ink);line-height:1.35}.ci-step-meta{display:block;font-size:11.5px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:2px}.ci-step.is-active .ci-num{background:var(--accent);border-color:var(--accent);color:#fff}.ci-step.is-active .ci-step-title{font-weight:600}.ci-step.is-active .ci-step-meta{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600}.ci-next{display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center;margin-top:20px;background:var(--ink);color:#fff;text-decoration:none;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;padding:12px 16px;border-radius:11px;transition:transform .15s,background .15s}.ci-next:hover{background:var(--accent);transform:translateY(-1px)}</style><aside class='ci-wizard' aria-label='AI Skills library navigator'><div class='ci-wiz-eyebrow'>The AI Skills Library</div><div class='ci-wiz-sub'>Reference · the standards every pillar calls · dip in as needed</div><div class='ci-group'>Start here</div><ol class='ci-steps'><li class='ci-step is-active' aria-current='step'><span class='ci-num'>1</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>What Are AI Skills?</span><span class='ci-step-meta'>You're here</span></span></li></ol><div class='ci-group'>Data dictionary</div><ol class='ci-steps'><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-a-data-dictionary' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>2</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Build One Data Dictionary That Holds Across Every Program</span></span></a></li></ol><div class='ci-group'>Frameworks</div><ol class='ci-steps'><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-a-logic-model' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>3</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Build a Logic Model</span></span></a></li><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-a-logframe' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>4</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Build a Logframe</span></span></a></li><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-a-results-framework' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>5</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Build a Results Framework</span></span></a></li></ol><div class='ci-group'>SROI method</div><ol class='ci-steps'><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-an-sroi-value-map' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>6</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Build an SROI Value Map</span></span></a></li><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-pick-a-financial-proxy-for-sroi' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>7</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Pick a Financial Proxy</span></span></a></li><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-estimate-deadweight-and-attribution' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>8</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Estimate Deadweight &amp; Attribution</span></span></a></li><li class='ci-step'><a href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-calculate-the-sroi-ratio' target='_blank' rel='noopener'><span class='ci-num'>9</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Calculate the SROI Ratio</span></span></a></li></ol><div class='ci-group'>Standards &amp; voice</div><ol class='ci-steps'><li class='ci-step ci-step--soon'><span class='ci-num'>10</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>Apply IRIS+, Five Dimensions &amp; ESG</span><span class='ci-step-meta'>Coming soon</span></span></li><li class='ci-step ci-step--soon'><span class='ci-num'>11</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>The Deterministic-Output Standard (“AI Taste”)</span><span class='ci-step-meta'>Coming soon</span></span></li><li class='ci-step ci-step--soon'><span class='ci-num'>12</span><span class='ci-step-body'><span class='ci-step-title'>The Sopact Voice &amp; Component Standard</span><span class='ci-step-meta'>Coming soon</span></span></li></ol><a class='ci-next' href='https://www.sopact.com/academy/how-to-build-a-data-dictionary' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Browse the library →</a></aside>

AI Skills is not a course you take start to finish — it's the reusable library every other pillar reaches into. A data dictionary, the frameworks, the SROI method, the standards, the deterministic-output rule, and the brand voice, each packaged as a skill so a field means the same thing and an output reads the same way in Case, Grant, Portfolio, and Survey Intelligence alike. Define the method once; apply it everywhere.

Key takeaways

  • Define once, apply everywhere — one data dictionary across every program, hospital, and year.
  • Deterministic, cited AI — same input, same graded output; “AI Taste” is a standard, not a vibe.
  • Frameworks, the SROI method, IRIS+/Five Dimensions/ESG, and brand voice — all reusable skills.
  • A reference library, not a linear course — dipped into as needed, cross-linked from every pillar.
  • This is the library landing page — every other pillar's demo runs on these skills.

What AI Skills is

AI Skills means turning the methods you'd otherwise re-derive every time — how a field is defined, how a framework is built, how SROI is computed, how the AI reads and renders — into reusable skills that every pillar calls. The method becomes the asset, not the person who happens to remember it.

If your organization runs more than one program — across sites, years, or funders — you've felt the cost of not having this: the same “employment status” means three different things, every analysis rebuilds the framework from scratch, and the AI gives a slightly different answer each run. Comparability, reuse, and consistency all break at once. AI Skills fixes the layer underneath, so everything built on top lines up.

How this differs from templates and tribal knowledge

The incumbent is scattered templates, one-off consultant methods, and whatever lives in an analyst's head. AI Skills makes the method a versioned, reusable asset. Three shifts make the difference:

  1. Define once, apply everywhere. One data dictionary and one set of skills, reused across every pillar, so the same field means the same thing across every program, hospital, and year.
  2. Deterministic, cited AI. Outputs are repeatable and pinned to source words — “AI Taste” is the house standard for how Sopact's AI reads and renders, not a vibe that drifts run to run.
  3. Standards and voice baked in. Frameworks, the SROI method, IRIS+/Five Dimensions/ESG, and the Sopact voice are packaged as skills, so nothing is re-derived and nothing drifts off-brand.

The other pillars don't duplicate these — they call them, so a fix made here propagates everywhere at once.

Start with the word “skill”

Forget “AI feature” for a moment. In this library, a skill is a reusable, deterministic method Sopact's AI applies the same way every time — a data-dictionary definition, a Theory-of-Change build, an SROI value map, the house rule for how output is graded and cited. Each is written once, versioned, and called by every pillar and use-case — so the method travels with you instead of living in one person's memory.

Where AI Skills fits — and where it doesn't

Honest boundaries first. AI Skills is the standards layer under the pillars, not a standalone workflow. Reach for it when you need consistency across programs; don't expect it to be a start-to-finish product path on its own.

Reach for AI Skills when
Strong fitWhy
You run more than one programOne shared dictionary makes every program, site, and year comparable
You're building a frameworkTheory of Change, logic model, logframe, results framework — build and audit
You compute SROIThe full method — value map, proxy, deadweight, ratio — as reusable skills
You report against standardsIRIS+, the IMP Five Dimensions, and ESG applied consistently
You're tired of AI driftThe deterministic-output standard: same input, same graded, cited output
You need on-brand outputThe Sopact voice and component set, packaged as a skill
What it isn't
Not thisWhy
A standalone product workflowIt's the layer under the pillars, not its own start-to-finish path
A one-off analysis you never reuseThe value is reuse — across programs, years, and pillars
A replacement for the pillar coursesThe pillars call these skills; they don't compete with them
A generic AI chatbotDeterministic and cited, not a free-form model that drifts run to run

The rule of thumb: if you'd otherwise re-derive the same method in more than one place, it belongs in AI Skills — defined once and called everywhere.

You don't follow one organization through AI Skills — you see the same skills surface in every other pillar's demo: the graded Theory of Change in Case Intelligence, the standards mapping in Portfolio, the cited scoring in Grant, the themed open text in Survey. All of it runs on this library.

See it work — define once, applied across every pillar
Data dictionarydefine once
FrameworksToC · logframe
SROIvalue map
AI Tastedeterministic
Voiceon-brand
Applied across every pillar
CaseGrantPortfolioSurvey

The same skills power every pillar's demo — deterministically, and cited to source.

1
Data dictionary & frameworks

One definition per field; Theory of Change, logic model, logframe, and results framework — build and audit.

Skill cluster
2
SROI & standards

The full SROI method — value map, proxy, deadweight, ratio — plus IRIS+, the Five Dimensions, and ESG.

Skill cluster
3
AI Taste & voice

The deterministic-output standard (same input, same graded output, cited), and the Sopact voice and component set.

Skill cluster

First, one definition

AI Skills begins with the smallest possible unit: one field, defined once. Pick a metric you collect in more than one program — say “employment status” — and write its single definition and unit. That one line is the first entry in your data dictionary, and the reason your programs will finally be comparable. The data-dictionary skill builds it out.

The one thing to do this week

Take one term two of your programs both use and reconcile it to a single definition. It's the smallest possible start on the standards layer — and the fastest way to feel why defining once, and applying everywhere, changes everything downstream.

Who this is for

Data leads, analysts, and the people who keep a whole organization's measurement consistent — anyone tired of re-deriving the same framework and getting a slightly different answer every time.

Frequently asked questions

What are AI Skills?

The reusable library — data dictionary, frameworks, SROI, the deterministic-output rule, and brand voice — that makes every Sopact pillar consistent.

Why isn't it a course like the other pillars?

It's a reference library you dip into as needed and cross-link from every pillar, not a start-to-finish path.

What is “AI Taste”?

The house standard for how Sopact's AI reads and renders: deterministic (same input → same graded output), evidence-graded, every claim pinned to source.

What's a data dictionary and why does it matter?

One definition per field so it means the same thing across every program, hospital, and year — the foundation of comparability.

Which frameworks and standards are covered?

Theory of Change, logic model, logframe, results framework; IRIS+, IMP Five Dimensions, ESG; and the full SROI method.

How do the other pillars use it?

They call these skills — the Case demo's graded ToC, the Portfolio demo's standards mapping, the Grant demo's cited scoring all run on AI Skills.

Next: Build One Data Dictionary That Holds Across Every Program → · or Try Sopact Sense →

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