Bookshelf v7.5: Assignment Methodology

Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide > Assignment Concepts > Assignment Logic and Scoring >

Assignment Methodology

Siebel Assignment Manager uses the following methodology to assign candidates to assignment objects.

Find assignment rules for the object. Find active assignment rules to be evaluated for the object being assigned. If an assignment rule does not include any assigned objects, then the assignment rule is evaluated for all objects. Objects should be assigned to assignment rules in the Object field of the Assignment Rules view.

NOTE: When an assignment object has multiple rules, rules are evaluated randomly.

Evaluate assignment criteria for the object. Evaluate each criteria that uses the Compare to Object comparison method to find assignment rules that satisfy the object's attributes.

NOTE: If criteria marked as Required do not satisfy the object's attributes, then Assignment Manager stops evaluating the assignment rule.

Determine a list of candidates from each assignment rule. For each assignment rule that satisfies Step 2, determine a list of candidates relevant to the assignment rule:

If the object uses position-based assignment, then the candidate list includes the positions registered in the Assignment Positions view.

If the object uses employee-based assignment, then the candidate list includes the employees registered in the Assignment Employees view.

If the object uses organization-based assignment, then the candidate list includes the organizations registered in the Assignment Organizations view.

If the All People field is checked in the Assignment Rules view, then the candidate list includes registered employees or positions in the Siebel database.

If the All Organization field is checked in the Assignment Rules view, then the candidate list includes registered organizations in the Siebel database.

Candidates pass for assignment unless a required rule fails or there is no relevant attribute.

NOTE: If no rules pass, then Assignment Manager assigns the object row to either the default employee or default position, depending on rules that are associated with the assignment object. For example, a service request is assigned to Default Employee, whereas an opportunity is assigned to Default Position. If the assignment object is configured for assignment to an organization and no rules pass, Assignment Manager assigns Default Organization. For more information, see Assignment Object Parameters.

Evaluate each candidate against assignment rule criteria. Evaluate each candidate against the criteria using the selected comparison method as described in the following table:


Comparison Method	Description
Compare Object to Person	Remove candidates that do not satisfy required object attributes when using this comparison method. These criteria make sure that qualified candidates possess the required skills for this object.
Compare to Person	Remove candidates that do not satisfy required criteria values when using this comparison method. These criteria make sure that only qualified candidates with the required skills are evaluated for this assignment rule.
Compare Object to Organization	Remove organizations that do not satisfy required object attributes when using this comparison method. These criteria make sure that qualified organizations possess the required skills for this object.
Compare to Organization	Remove organizations that do not satisfy required criteria values when using this comparison method. These criteria make sure that only qualified organizations with the required skills are evaluated for this assignment rule.
Workload	Remove candidates that have a workload greater than the maximum workload specified in the Assignment Workload view (only if the criteria is marked as Required).

NOTE: Candidates fail if they do not match the criteria or if they fail to meet the minimum score required for the criteria. Candidates that fail criteria marked as Required are not evaluated further against this rule.

Score each qualified candidate for each assignment rule. Scoring of each candidate for an assignment rule is based on the sum of:

Assignment rule score

Score of each assignment criterion that is satisfied

Each assignment criterion value that is satisfied

Some assignment criteria values (skills) are weighted by expertise.

To rank expertise codes, use the Order field in the List of Values view. For procedures, see Creating Expertise Codes.

To define expertise weight, use the Weighting Factor field in the List of Values view. For procedures, see Defining Weighting Factors.

For more information on skills, see Skills. For more information on expertise, see Expertise Codes. For more information on weighting factors, see Weighting Factors.

NOTE: Criteria value scores are calculated only for criteria that use the Include inclusion method.

Score for the candidate

This value is specified in the Assignment Employees view, Assignment Positions view, or Assignment Organizations view.

Workload score

Prorated score based on the current workload of candidates compared to the maximum workload allowed. The workload score is calculated as:

Workload Score = Score * (1 - (current workload/maximum workload))

For more information, see Workload Criteria.

If the Assignment Rule form has the Check Calendar box selected, Assignment Manager uses the availability-based assignment feature to submit employee availability information to the Field Service Appointment Book component, which reviews qualified candidates' calendars and work schedules to see who is available to undertake the assignment at the required time. See Availability-Based Assignment for further information on this feature.

Apply the Assignees from Rule method to scored candidates to generate a list of potential assignees. Use the Assignees from Rule type to eliminate candidates and determine a final list of assignees. The following table describes the types of assignment rules.


Assignees from Rule	Description
All, Above Minimum	Use assignees with an assignment score greater than or equal to the assignment rule's minimum score.
All, Must Assign	Same as All, Above Minimum, except that the highest-scoring candidate is a potential assignee even if all candidates fail to meet the minimum score.
One, Best Fit	Use the assignee with the highest assignment score from this assignment rule.
One, Random	Choose a random assignee whose score is greater than or equal to the minimum score required for this assignment rule.

Determine the primary assignment rule. If an exclusive assignment rule does not exist, then the primary assignment rule is the assignment rule with the highest-scoring assignee. If all assignment rules do not have a score, then the assignment rule with the lowest row ID is selected.

Evaluate exclusive assignment rules. If at least one assignment rule marked as Exclusive has candidates that satisfy Step 6, then find the exclusive assignment rule with the highest-scoring assignee. Keep all assignees in this assignment rule and eliminate other assignees.

If more than one exclusive assignment rule yields the same highest score, then assign the object to:

The default employee for employee-based assignments

The default position for position-based assignments

The default organization for organization-based assignments

NOTE: When two or more exclusive assignment rules have the same score and the Keep Man Asgn Primary Position assignment property is set to TRUE, then the manually assigned primary position is retained and the default position is added to the team as a nonprimary.

Determine the primary assignee. Determine the primary assignee from the primary assignment rule:

For objects that use employee-based assignments, set the primary assignee to the primary employee selected in the Primary Employee field of the Assignment Rule form applet for the primary assignment rule. If the selected primary employee is not an assignee that satisfies Step 6, then select the highest-scoring employee for the primary assignment rule that satisfies Step 6.

For objects that use position-based assignment, set the primary assignee to the primary position selected in the Primary Position field of the Assignment Rule form applet for the primary assignment rule. If the selected primary position is not an assignee that satisfies Step 6, then select the highest-scoring position for the primary assignment rule that satisfies Step 6.

For objects that use organization-based assignments, set the primary organization to the primary organization selected in the Primary Organization field of the Assignment Rule form applet for the primary assignment rule. If the selected primary organization is not an assignee that satisfies Step 6, then select the highest-scoring organization for the primary assignment rule that satisfies Step 6.

NOTE: The primary employee, position, or organization must pass the minimum score required for this assignment rule to be assigned as the primary assignee. The only exception is when the Assignee from Rule type is All, Must Assign, in which case the highest-scoring candidate or organization is a potential assignee if all candidates fail to meet the minimum score. For more information about Assignee from Rule types, see Table 4.

Filter out certain assignees based on multitiered mode. By default, the assignment mode is set to independently assign qualifying people and organizations. Three other assignment modes are available, which allows filtering of unwanted, but qualifying, people and organizations based on the relationship that exists between them. See Multitiered Assignment for further information.

Generate assignments. Write assignees to the object table:

Write the primary assignment rule and primary assignee to the object's primary table.

For team-based objects, write assignees to the object's team table.

NOTE: For interactive assignments, generated assignees can be assigned manually in the Assign Employees view.