This booklet explains the federal government's purpose and procedures for conducting a survey to determine civil service employees' skills, knowledges, and abilities so that they may be more fully utilized and/or developed. In section I the term "skills survey" is defined and its functions are viewed as part of an upward mobility program. Section II lists the personnel involved in planning and implementing the survey. Section III advises each government agency to assess its own information needs by either examining its existing job descriptions or by performing a job analysis. The scope of the project and use of a timetable are discussed. Then, the pros and cons of various procedures are debated for obtaining specific data on employees' skills. The approaches considered include (1) searching personnel files, (2) conducting personal interviews, (3) administering questionnaires to employees in groups, (4) mailing out questionnaires, and (5) using mail questionnaires with followup interviews. In section IV, government publications and Appendix 1 are suggested as resources for instructions on how to evaluate the data. Section V and Appendix 2 cover the methods of coding the data for storage and retrieval. The implementation and update of the survey are discussed in section VI. In the final two sections, the survey administrator is warned of various pitfalls and the need to comply with the Privacy Act. Appendixes 3 and 4 provide sample forms. (ELG)