Staffing Preferences Overview

A staffing preference stores the options you want to use to staff common types of resource requests. They define the default behavior, and supersede any defaults in the custom settings. The options you can save in a staffing preference are:

  • The resource search settings to use. These settings include match priorities and field weightings.
  • The minimum availability a resource must have to be considered for staffing.
  • The scheduling strategy to use if an assignment is created.

For example, you might want resource requests for senior consultants to be staffed using different criteria from resource requests for junior consultants. You can achieve this by creating two staffing preferences. Your staffing preference to find senior consultants might have skills as the highest match priority, a minimum availability of 70%, and the requirement for having previously worked with the customer set to "Essential". Whereas your staffing preference to find junior consultants might also have skills as the highest match priority, but a minimum availability of 100%, and the requirement for having previously worked with the customer set to "Suggested". The following section explains how to set up your staffing preferences.

Setting up Staffing Preferences

To set up staffing preferences for use with your resource requests:

  1. Create a resource search settings record for each combination of match priorities, field weightings, and additional criteria that you need. For information about the fields on a resource search settings record, see Resource Search Settings Fields.
  2. Create a staffing preference for each combination of resource search settings (created at step 1), scheduling strategy, and minimum availability that you need. For information about the fields on a staffing preference and the defaults that apply if you leave a field blank, see Staffing Preference Fields.
  3. Link a staffing preference to a resource request by selecting it in the resource request's Staffing Preference field.
Note:

If you do not set a staffing preference on a resource request, it will be staffed according to the Resource Search Service Settings that apply. Auto-staffing uses the Resource Search Service settings configured for the delegated system user over the org-wide defaults.

Where Staffing Preferences Are Used

Staffing preferences are used by auto-staffing, by the Resourcing tab on the resource request record page, and can be used by Resource Request Staffer. For more information see the sections that follow.

Warning:

All other staffing methods currently ignore staffing preferences, and will staff resource requests according to the Resource Search Service Settings that apply.

How Staffing Preferences Are Used by Auto-Staffing

When you select the Auto-Hold or Auto-Assign checkbox on a resource request that has a staffing preference, the auto-staffing process uses the staffing preference to find a suitable resource to match to the resource request.

How Staffing Preferences Are Used by the Resourcing Tab on the Resource Request Page

The Resourcing tab on the resource request record page provides tools to help you find a suitable resource to match to the current resource request.

When you display the Resourcing tab for a resource request that has a staffing preference, the following values are preset from the staffing preference:

  • The Match Priority and Field Weightings on the Match Settings panel are preset from the resource search settings linked to the staffing preference.
  • The Include Aspirational Skills and Certifications checkbox on the Filters panel is selected unless the resource search settings linked to the staffing preference is set to exclude them.
  • The Include Expired Skills and Certifications checkbox on the Filters panel is selected unless the resource search settings linked to the staffing preference is set to exclude them.
  • The Approval Status field on the Filters panel includes all the picklist values unless specific statuses have been defined in the resource search settings linked to the staffing preference.
  • The Minimum Availability field on the Filters panel is preset from the staffing preference. It is blank if there's no minimum availability set on the staffing preference.
  • The scheduling strategy, which you can view by clicking Manage Schedule for a selected resource, is preset from the staffing preference.

You can adjust these values on the Resourcing tab if you want to use different criteria to match a resource to the resource request. If you later reload the page, the values are preset from the staffing preference again. For more information about the tools available on the Resourcing tab, see Managing Resource Requests.

How Staffing Preferences Can Be Used by Resource Request Staffer

Resource Request Staffer uses the priorities and weightings in the Settings panel on the Open Requests tab to match resources to resource requests. However, if resource requests are linked to staffing preferences, you can select the Respect Staffing Preferences checkbox to allow staffing preferences to override the values in the Settings panel.

If Respect Staffing Preferences is not selected, or a resource request is not linked to a staffing preference, the values in the Settings panel apply.