Matching and Comparing Resources Using the Certinia Resourcing Agent

The Certinia Resourcing agent searches for resources and ranks them by match quality, providing the information you need to compare candidates before taking action.

Note:

This feature is part of the Certinia Early Adopter Program. This program is only available to a limited number of customers. For more information, contact your Certinia Account Team.

When the agent searches for suitable resources, it returns candidates ordered by match quality. If the resource request has staffing preferences, candidates are grouped by priority before match quality is applied. Pinned resources appear first, followed by shortlisted, then self-nominated, then all other candidates, with match quality determining the order within each group.

For each candidate, the chat displays the following details:

• Name
• Role
• Region
• Practice
• Group
• Match quality
• Availability

For more information about how resources are matched, see Search Resources Fields

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

• Matched attributes, including role, region, practice, and group
• Matched skills, including ratings
• Availability
• Match quality

When searching for suitable resources, the Certinia Resourcing agent uses the Resource Search Service as its matching engine. This means results reflect the same field priorities, weightings, and availability logic as Intelligent Staffing. For more information about Intelligent Staffing, see Intelligent Staffing Overview

The search behavior depends on how the request is made.

When searching from a resource request or assignment, the agent extracts search criteria directly from the record. The search uses resource availability and the following attributes:

• Role
• Region
• Practice
• Group
• Skills and certifications
• Worked With Customer
• Custom fields, according to the mappings between custom fields on the resource request and contact fields defined by an administrator. For more information, see Resource Search Fields Overview

If the resource request has staffing preferences associated, the search uses those preferences. Otherwise, the search uses the criteria defined in the Resource Search Service custom setting. For more information about staffing preferences, see Staffing Preferences Overview

If an assignment is provided and it has a linked resource request, the search uses the criteria from the resource request. If the assignment has no linked resource request, the search uses the assignment's role, dates, and project region, practice, and group. Skills, Worked With Customer, and custom field mappings are not applied in this case.

When searching using filters (such as role, region, skills, or dates specified directly in the conversation), the search uses resource availability and the attributes provided. Worked With Customer and custom field mappings are not applied in filter-based searches.

Notes:

• Expired skills and certifications are not considered.
• Custom fields must be populated on the resource request to be considered.
• Worked With Customer and custom field mappings only apply when searching from a resource request record.

Searching for Resources

1. Open an agent chat.
2. Describe what you are looking for. For example, enter Find available resources for the <resource request name> resource request or Find a senior developer available in EMEA from <start date> to <end date>. The agent returns a list of candidates ordered by match quality, showing name, role, region, practice, group, match quality, and availability for each.
3. Optionally, you can ask the agent to display results in a tabular format for easy comparison. For example, enter Show those results in a table. Tables display up to ten rows initially. Click Show more to load additional rows ten at a time. The agent selects up to five of the most relevant columns based on your query. If your results contain more columns than are shown, a message indicates how many are available, and you can ask the agent to show specific columns.
4. Optionally, ask the agent for more details about a candidate or to compare candidates. For example, enter Tell me more about <resource name>. The agent shows matched attributes, matched skills and ratings, availability, and overall match quality.

Managing Candidates After Comparison

When swapping a resource, you can use a resource of your choice or ask the agent to search for suitable alternatives.

Note:

You cannot perform a swap if timecards exist against the assignment.

When splitting an assignment, you specify a different resource and the start date for the new assignment. The original assignment ends the day before the split date.

To split an assignment to a resource request instead, specify the start date and the number of requested hours for the new resource request. You can optionally suggest a resource for the new request. The original assignment end date is updated to the day before the split date.

To manage the shortlist for a resource request, you can ask the agent to view the current shortlist or to add and remove candidates. For each shortlisted resource, you can also set a status of Pending, Approved, or Rejected, and add notes.

You can add or remove multiple candidates and update the status of multiple resources on a shortlist in a single request. Shortlist statuses are Pending, Approved, and Rejected. You can also add notes to individual shortlisted resources. Unlike other data changes, shortlist operations do not require your approval and are applied as soon as you make the request.

Note:

Actions that change data, including assigning, swapping, splitting, and removing a resource, require your approval before they are applied. Shortlist operations do not require approval and are applied immediately when requested.

For more information, see Making Staffing Changes Using the Certinia Resourcing Agent and Managing a Resource Request Shortlist Using the Certinia Resourcing Agent.