How Resources are Matched in Resource Request Staffer

The matching process in Resource Request Staffer finds the best match for the selected resource requests one by one. Resources are matched according to the priorities and field weightings configured in the Settings panel (or in staffing preferences). The selected resource requests are processed in the order in which they are listed on the Open Requests tab. A resource can only be matched to one resource request.

When the matching process is complete, the highest-ranked resources are matched to their corresponding resource requests. The highest-ranked resource is determined by how well they match the resource request according to the configured settings, provided they haven't already been matched to another resource request during the process. The matched resource is then displayed in the Matched Resource column in the Match Results tab, and the match quality percentage of the resource is displayed in the Match Quality column.

Availability of Resources

The availability of matched resources can be calculated in one of two ways:

  • The calculation considers a resource's total working hours available in their work calendar and their scheduled commitments, based on the start and end dates of the resource request.
  • The calculation considers a resource's total working hours available in their work calendar and their scheduled commitments, compared with the preferred schedule on the resource request. This is worked out on a daily basis. The overall percentage value is determined using the difference between the total number of hours on the preferred schedule that the resource cannot fulfil, and the total number of hours on the preferred schedule. This is referred to as schedule availability.

If schedule availability is configured but the resource request does not contain a schedule, the alternative method to calculate availability is used instead of schedule availability.

Note:

If a resource's availability cannot be calculated, the match quality score also cannot be calculated. For more information, see Missing Resource Availability Overview.

Resource Priorities

In the Match Priority section of the Settings panel (or staffing preference), you can configure the order of priorities that Resource Request Staffer uses to match resources to resource requests. The priorities are fields, skills, and availability. When schedule availability is configured, availability is fixed as the lowest priority when ranking resources. For more information about skills and availability, see Calculating Resource Availability and Skills Management Overview.

Note:

An administrator can define whether aspirational and expired skills and certifications are included or excluded in the matching process. This can be done using the Exclude Aspirational Skills and Certs and Exclude Expired Skills and Certs fields in the Resource Search Service custom setting respectively. Additionally, an administrator can define approval statuses that skill or certification ratings must have to be included in the matching process, using the Skill or Cert Rating: Required Statuses field in the same custom field. For more information, see Resource Search Service Settings.

Fields refers to the following:

  • Role
  • Region
  • Practice
  • Group
  • Worked with Customer
  • Custom Fields

You can configure individual weightings for each of these fields in the Field Weightings section of the Settings panel.

When multiple resources match a resource request, the configured priorities determine the best resource match. If several resources match using the first priority, such as Fields, the next priority in the list is used to further refine the best resource match, and so on.

Field Weightings

An administrator can apply weightings to the fields used for matching. The weightings determine how strictly a resource is matched to a resource request. Note that custom fields are weighted as a whole rather than individually. An administrator can set up the custom fields that are considered, and they are listed in the tooltip for the Custom Fields weighting.

The weightings are determined on a scale of 1 to 4, and equate to the following:

  • 1 - Suggested
  • 2 - Desirable
  • 3 - Ideal
  • 4 - Essential

Weightings can be applied to the following fields:

  • Role
  • Region
  • Practice
  • Group
  • Worked with Customer
  • Custom Fields

The resource matching process considers the weightings of the fields, and scores each resource depending on whether they match a field on the resource request and its weighting.