Certinia Work Reallocation Agent Overview

The Certinia Work Reallocation agent assists you with reallocating assignments by:

  • Searching for suitable alternative resources
  • Swapping the resource on an assignment
  • Splitting an assignment to a new resource request
  • Replacing an assignment with a resource request
  • Holding a resource for the resource request

The Certinia Work Reallocation agent uses a Salesforce Employee agent. For more information about Employee agents, see the Salesforce Help.

From the resource and date range that you provide, the Certinia Work Reallocation agent shows the number of the resource's assignments that can be reallocated. For each assignment, it shows the following details:

  • Assignment name
  • Assignment start and end dates
  • The most suitable reallocation action, swap the resource or split to a resource request
  • Split date, if the action is to split to a resource request.

  • If the action is to swap the resource:

    • Alternative resource name
    • Resource match quality
    • Resource availability
    • Billable status
Note:
  • If you do not provide a date range, all assignments from the current date onwards that can be reallocated are included.
  • To reallocate a resource's assignments, the resource must be active, and you must have staffing permission controls for that resource.

You can enter a name or email address to search for a resource. The agent indicates the total number of resources found. If there are more than five, it shows them in groups of five. You can ask the agent to present the resources in a tabular format, enabling you to easily compare them.

If there are more than five assignments for a resource, the agent indicates the total number of assignments found and shows them in groups of five, ordered by the most recent end date. You can ask the agent to show the next group of assignments or all remaining assignments.

To give you more flexibility and control over the splitting process, you can adjust the start date for the resource request that you initially indicated. When swapping resources on an assignment, you can do one of the following:

  • Use the resource suggested by the agent.
  • Use a resource of your choice.
  • Search for alternative resources.
  • Replace the assignment with a resource request if you want to reallocate the assignment in the future.

When the agent searches for alternatives, it provides you with up to three options and the following details:

  • Role
  • Match quality
  • Availability

If the agent finds more than three resources, it indicates the total number of resources found and shows the resources in sequential groups of three, ordered according to the match quality determined by Intelligent Staffing. For more information on how resources are matched, see Resource Search. You can ask the agent to display the next group of resources or all remaining resources. A maximum of 50 resources can be returned for each assignment.

You can ask the agent to provide more details about any of the candidates and to compare them. The agent then provides the following details:

  • Matched fields. This includes role, region, practice, group, and custom fields.
  • Matched skills
  • Availability
  • Match quality

You can also ask for the criteria used in the resource search. The agent then gives a general overview of resource search and shows the criteria used. It can also define the splitting and swapping actions.

You can replace the assignment with a resource request to assign a resource in the future. The resource is removed from the assignment, and the assignment is deleted. If the assignment has no resource request associated, a resource request with status "Ready to Staff" is created, using the details from the assignment or the related project. Details refer to the following:

  • End date
  • Group
  • Opportunity
  • Practice
  • Project
  • Region
  • Requested hours
  • Resource role
  • Schedule
  • Skills
  • Start date

If the assignment already has a resource request associated, the resource is removed from the resource request, and the end date of the resource request is updated to match the end date of the assignment.

Additionally, you can hold a resource for the resource request to ensure they are available for the new assignment when you staff the resource request.

Resource Search

When searching for suitable resources for an assignment or resource request, resources are matched according to the priority order of fields and field weightings that an administrator defines using the Resource Search Service custom setting. The retrieved resources match the results returned by Intelligent Staffing. For more information about Intelligent Staffing, see Intelligent Staffing Overview.

The search uses resource availability and the attributes defined on the assignment. Attributes refer to the following:

  • Role
  • Region
  • Practice
  • Group
  • Skills and certifications
  • Worked With Customer
  • Custom fields, according to the mappings between custom fields on the resource request related to the assignment and custom contact fields defined by an administrator. For more information, see Resourcing Match Mappings.
Notes:
  • Expired skills and certifications are not considered.
  • Custom fields must be populated on the resource requests to be considered.

If an assignment has a resource request with staffing preferences associated, the search uses the criteria defined in the preferences. If the resource request has no staffing preferences associated, the search uses the criteria defined in the Resource Search Service custom setting. For more information about staffing preferences, see Staffing Preferences Overview.