Process of Adding Criteria and Values to Assignment Rules

You can add criteria and criteria values to your assignment rules to evaluate and assign candidates.

Note:

Assignment rules can be created with no criteria. A rule of this nature functions to make sure that data items of a particular type are assigned, that is, that all objects of the defined type pass. Use such rules carefully, because a rule defined with no criteria can make unnecessary assignments.

To add criteria and criteria values to assignment rules, perform the following tasks:

Adding Assignment Criteria to Assignment Rules

This topic explains how to add assignment criteria to assignment rules.

This task is a step in "Process of Defining Criteria Values as Skills with Expertise Codes and Weighting Factors" as well as a step in "Process of Defining Assignment Rules".

Criteria are sets of conditions describing the attributes of objects or candidates, or both, that are evaluated to determine optimal assignment. Criteria are the fundamental building blocks for assignment rules. An assignment rule can contain none, one, or many criteria. Assignment rules use criteria to determine which candidates qualify as potential assignees. Criteria also determine which assignment rule is evaluated in assigning an object.

Note:

To add an assignment criterion to an assignment rule

Navigate to the Administration - Assignment screen, and then the Assignment Rules List view.
In the Assignment Rules list, drill down on the assignment rule for which you want to create an assignment criterion, and then click the Criteria view tab (if not already active).
In the Criteria list, click New.
In the new criterion record, click in the available fields to enter the relevant information.

Note:

If you want to query for an assignment criterion, then you must use the name of the assignment criterion, not the display name for the assignment criterion object that you configured using Siebel Tools. For example, if the name of the Account assignment criteria is ACCOUNT_ID, then you must use this name for your query, although the display name is Account. Similarly, do not use display names when querying seed assignment criteria.

Table 5-17 shows the predefined fields for assignment criteria.

Table 5-17 Assignment Criteria Predefined Fields

Field Name	Description	Example Value
Rule Criterion	The criteria evaluated for the assignment rule.	Product Defect Priority
Comparison Method	Methods used by Assignment Manager to determine how objects and candidates are matched. Choices are: Compare to Object Compare to Person Compare Object to Person Compare to Organization Compare Object to Organization For explanations of each method, see "Assignment Criteria Comparison Methods". Note: For assignment criteria that use the Compare to Object, Compare to Person, or Compare to Organization comparison method, each criteria includes one or more values.	Compare to Object
Inclusion	Methods used by Assignment Manager to determine how criteria values and candidates are matched. Choices are: Include, Include All Matching, Include All, and Exclude. For more information about each inclusion method, see "Assignment Criteria Inclusion Methods". Note: Depending on the Inclusion method, candidates that meet the criteria value have the criteria value score added to their total score. Criteria values can be defined as constants or can use wildcard characters to include a wider selection of potential matches between assignment rule and object.	Include
Required	Determines whether the criteria is required. Choices are: Always When Available Never For detailed information about the required field, see "Adding Assignment Criteria to Assignment Rules".	Always
Score	Score for this criteria. Candidates that satisfy this criteria have this score added to their total score. For more information about how you can use the criteria score, see "Assignment Criteria Comparison Methods".	Not applicable
Minimum Score	Minimum score required to qualify for this criterion. This field can remain blank. If the total score from all matching criterion values (calculated based on the inclusion method for the rule) is greater than or equal to the minimum score specified for the criterion, then the criterion passes.	Not applicable
Inherited	If selected, then this indicates that the criterion was inherited from a parent rule. This is a read-only field. Note: If the Inherited flag for a criterion is TRUE in the Administration - Assignment view, then the Read Only flag is TRUE in the Administration - Delegated Assignment views. Tip: The Inherited field might be a hidden column in this list. You can use the Columns Displayed feature to make fields visible. For more information, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.	Not applicable
Template	If selected, then Assignment Manager excludes the criterion when processing rules. Assignment Manager does not process criteria templates until an inheritor of an assignment rule chooses to apply a template to the inherited rule. For more information about applying criteria templates, see "Adding Criteria Templates to Assignment Rules". Note: When a rule with a criterion using a template is inherited, the criterion is not automatically inherited with the other criteria. You must explicitly apply the criterion to the inherited rule. After the criterion is applied to the inherited rule, you can modify the criterion as you would any other criteria. Tip: The Template field might be a hidden column in this list. You can use the Columns Displayed feature to make fields visible. For more information, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.	Not applicable
DA Read Only	If selected, makes a criterion read-only for delegated administrators. By checking this field, the assignment administrator (AA) makes sure the criterion is read-only to all users who view the rule from the delegated assignment views, including the owner of that child rule group. For example, if the AA creates Rule A in a rule group and that rule is inherited as Rule B in a child rule group, then the AA can add a criterion to Rule B and make it read-only. The owner of the child rule group cannot change this setting. Without this flag, the owner of the child rule group could delete that criterion because it was not inherited from the parent rule. Note: If the DA Read Only field for a criterion is TRUE in the Administration - Assignment view, then the Read Only flag is TRUE in the Administration - Delegated Assignment view. Tip: The DA Read Only field might be a hidden column in this list. You can use the Columns Displayed feature to make fields visible. For more information, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.	Not applicable

Figure 5-6 shows an example of an assignment criterion using the values from Table 5-17. This example shows an always-required Product Defect Priority rule criterion for an assignment rule that is compared to service objects using the Include inclusion method.

Figure 5-6 Example of an Assignment Criterion

Adding Criteria Values to Assignment Criteria

This topic explains how to add criteria values to assignment criteria. Each assignment criterion has one or more criteria attributes (values) that are shown as columns in the Values list.

This task is a step in "Process of Defining Criteria Values as Skills with Expertise Codes and Weighting Factors" as well as a step in "Process of Defining Assignment Rules".

About Criteria Values

Criteria values are details associated with criteria that are compared to an object or candidate. For assignment criteria that use the Compare to Object, Compare to Person, or Compare to Organization comparison method , each criterion includes one or more criteria values. A value represents the actual string, number, or date that is used in matching. Criteria values can be based on MLOVs, picklists (a pop-up pick applet from where you can choose a record), or simple free text fields.

Depending on the inclusion method, candidates that meet the criteria value have the criteria value score added to their total score. Criteria values can be defined as constants or can use wildcard characters to include a wider selection of potential matches between assignment rule and object.

Some predefined criteria values available dynamically based upon the criterion you select, or you can create your own criteria values using Siebel Tools. Each criteria value can include one or more attributes. For example, the Account City State Country criterion has three attributes: one each for City, State, and Country. This type of criterion is known as a composite criterion. Each of the assignment attributes appear as list columns in the Values list under Criteria. For more information about assignment attributes, see "Creating Assignment Attributes".

Criteria values are considered differently when child components are involved. For example, consider a rule that uses both of the following criteria on the attributes coming from an Opportunity component. Assume also that both criteria are configured to be available to the Account and Opportunity assignment objects:

Opty Criteria1 = value1
Opty Criteria2 = value2

Consider the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1: When the rule assigns to the Opportunity object

The Opportunity component, in this context, is the primary component. Both criteria work on the same record, so the opportunity record must match both criteria if it is to be assigned.
Scenario 2: When the rule assigns to the Account object

The Opportunity component, in this context, is the child component of the Account object. All the opportunity records associated with the account represent one entity (a particular account), so the criteria are evaluated on all child records. If only one of the child records matches, then the criteria match. As a result, the rule passes if one of the opportunities matches Opty Criteria1, and one of the opportunities matches Opty Criteria2.

To add criteria values to an assignment criterion

Navigate to the Administration - Assignment screen, and then the Assignment Rules List view.
In the Assignment Rules list, select a rule, and click the Criteria tab.
With the appropriate assignment criterion selected in the Criteria list, scroll down to the Values subview.
In the Values list, click New.
In the new record, click in the available fields to enter the relevant information.

Note:

The assignment attributes for criteria values that are available differ depending on the assignment criterion that you select in Step 2.

You define different types of criteria values depending on the assignment attribute. For example, criteria values might:

Appear as list of value (LOV) fields from which you choose a value (such as Account State).
Show a pick dialog box from which you choose a value (such as Account).
Represent numbers which you choose using the calculator button.
Represent dates which you choose using the calendar select button.

Table 5-18 shows examples of assignment attributes for the assignment criterion created in "Adding Assignment Criteria to Assignment Rules".

Table 5-18 Available Assignment Attributes

Criteria Value	Example
Score	10 6
Product Defect Priority	1 (Very High) 2 (High)

Criteria Value

Example

Score

Product Defect Priority

1 (Very High)

2 (High)

Avoiding Duplicate Assignment Criteria Values

It is possible to create duplicate criteria values for an assignment criterion. If both criteria values use scores in this case, then both scores are added to the assignment criterion if the criteria value passes. This result can occur when you create criteria values that use ranges, such as criteria values for the Revenue assignment criterion.

Note:

It is recommended that you do not create duplicate criteria values for the same assignment criterion, even though Assignment Manager allows this. If both criteria values use scores and you use the Include inclusion method, then the score added to the passing candidate might be inconsistent. If you use the Include All or Include All Matching inclusion method, then both the scores are added to the passing candidate.

Using Wildcard Characters When Defining Criteria Values

Wildcard characters can also be used when defining specific criteria values. This option allows for a greater range of assignment object matches. For example, if you create an assignment rule for Account objects with the Account City as assignment criteria, then the corresponding criteria value City can be defined as A*. This setting matches Accounts in cities beginning with the letter A.

If a criterion value includes the special characters ?, *, and \ that are used as literals, the escape identifier character (\) must be added before each special character in the value field. For example, the criteria value Tri*Laptop is entered into the Values field as Tri\*Laptop.

Criteria values that include alphanumeric entries are stored as string values. These values are sorted lexicographically, that is, in dictionary order, when determining specific ranges for assignment rules. For example, the value AB10 is sorted between AB1 and AB9, even though you might require AB10 to be placed greater than AB9.

Figure 5-7 shows an example of creating Product Defect Priority criteria values using the procedure in "Adding Criteria Values to Assignment Criteria" and the values in Table 5-18. This example shows an always-required Product Defect Priority rule criterion for an assignment rule that is compared to service objects using the Include inclusion method. There is a medium Product Defect Priority with a score of 6 and a high Product Defect Priority with a score of 10 associated with this rule criterion.

Figure 5-7 Example of Adding Criteria Values to an Assignment Criterion