Recruit Update - November 2018

As well as introducing some great new features, this is a major release which introduces a new more modern framework to the product source code (Entity Framework). This is expected to allow new features to be developed faster in future and with less likelihood of introducing new issues.

Feature-wise, the highlight of this release is a swathe of new functionality regarding KPIs and KPI management. However, as we have yet another awesome new release hot on the heels of this one which introduces new dashboard pages and a new look and feel to the Recruit Backoffice, we are not intending to implement the new KPI functionality for any clients until then (eta - January 2019).

The new design will align Recruit more closely with other Kallidus products and the new dashboards will clearly give users much more information about what is important on a day-to day basis. Even though the work is not quite complete yet, the KPI screenshots in this article are all taken from a system using the new design in order to allow clients to start preparing for the change.

General

Implementation of Entity Framework
This release is the culmination of almost 6 months of development work. Much of this work has been focused on ensuring that the system behaves exactly as it did before. So, although a very significant change "under the hood", clients are not expected to notice anything.

The new framework simply modifies the entire code platform and will allow us to do more things faster and more reliably in future.

Security enhancements
As ever - we're always on the case with this. Some newly identified issues picked up by the pro hackers in our latest penetration test have been addressed.

Backoffice

KPI reporting
This fantastic new collection of features allows various KPIs to be assigned across the system. Once configured, Vacancies, Requisitions, Candidates, Users and Agents are then automatically flagged both in list views and on dashboard pages once a KPI starts drifting into the amber zone.

For each KPI, clients will be able to specify the point at which something will start flagging as amber and the point it will start flagging as red. KPIs will be displayed in the following places:

• On Dashboard pages, red and amber items are displayed, allowing users to click through to immediately get to specific flagged red or amber items or a list
  
  Fig. 3 - Main homepage/dashboard
  
  
  Fig. 4 - Tab homepage dashboard example (Vacancies)
  
  
• R/A/G status is displayed in list views, where users may see the status of each item in the list and click to view the R/A/G status of each applicable KPI
  
  Fig. 5 - KPI display on list pages (Advanced list mode)
  
  
  Fig. 6 - KPI display on list pages (Simple list mode)
  
  
• On Timeline pages, users may see the R/A/G status of each applicable KPI and further detail regarding the thresholds
  
  Fig. 7 - KPI display on Timeline pages
  
  

This gives users much improved visibility of the most important things to action at all times and will help clients remain on track with their recruitment goals. Items are flagged based on the worst KPI. e.g. If all KPIs are green except one amber one, then the item will be flagged as amber.

N.B. Although the functionality is technically available in this release, as the look and feel will change so dramatically for the better in the next Backoffice rebrand release and as the next release also introduces vastly improved dashboard pages, we are not intending on configuring any KPIs for clients until then, but clients can start thinking about what KPIs they might like to introduce.

The KPI types available will be as follows:

• Number of active vacancies assigned to user
• Agency hire to submission ratio
• Agency to direct hire ratio
• Average candidate time between dates
• Average cost per hire
• Average time to hire
• Ratio of candidates between two statuses
• Number of submissions to active vacancy
• Submitted to unsubmitted candidate ratio
• Candidate time at status
• Requisition time at status
• Time since last comms to candidate
• Time to approve requisition
• Vacancy cost

Most of the above KPIs may be additionally filtered based on classifiers, statuses or both. This allows clients to assign different KPIs to different areas of their business where appropriate, e.g. The agency to direct hire ratio KPI may be different for senior roles compared to junior roles.

The same KPI type may also be used multiple times in multiple places in different ways, e.g. Time to complete screening v. Time to complete interview feedback are both Candidate time at status-based, but looking at different statuses, so the KPIs for each status may require different values.

Failed comms notifications
Previously failed comms were only visible if users actively checked the "Failed comms" page within the Settings section.

Two new notifications have been added to help improve visibility of this:

• Notification to user every morning if they had failed comms in the previous 24 hours
• Notification to all Super users on Monday mornings if there were any failed system comms in the previous week (comms sent automatically by the system, rather than triggered by the action of a user, e.g. job alerts, automated chasers, etc.)

These notifications will flag in the system using the existing notifications functionality (icon in the top-right of the Backoffice). Failed comms messages will include a link to allow users to immediately click through to view the failed comms. Any issues may then be addressed as required.

New filter on failed comms page for system comms
To support the viewing of failed systems comms for super users, the list now includes a new filter to allow only system comms to be viewed.

Improved performance for dashboard charts
Some clients with heavy system usage were experiencing intermittent issues when viewing dashboard reports covering 90 days. Performance of the dashboard charts has been dramatically improved, which is expected to resolve all these issues.

Enhancements to exclude requisition templates from some requisition counts
Requisition templates were previously being included in the counts in a number of areas, making it hard to identify the actual number of active requisitions. Templates are now excluded automatically from all relevant requisition counts in the system.

Enhancements to auto-complete fields
This release introduces the same improvements made in the previous release to these kinds of fields in the Candidate portal and on pop-up pages to the Backoffice:

• Major performance enhancement
• Improved searching

In the Backoffice, this change impacts the following areas:

• Assigning interviewers when adding interview slots in the Assessments tab
• Assigning vacancies to interview slots
• Bulk assigning interviews in the Assessment tab
• Bulk assigning users to roles on the Vacancies tab

Exclude vacancy templates when assigning vacancies to interview slots
Previously vacancy templates were also included in the list of suggestions when searching for vacancies to assign to slots. This is no longer the case.

Exclude requisition templates from requisition-related dashboard charts
Previously requisition templates were also being counted in dashboard charts related to requisitions. Templates are now excluded.

Exclude requisition templates from the count of All requisitions
Previously requisition templates were also being included in the count of "All requisitions" on the requisition list page, making it difficult to see the actual number of active requisitions across all stages. Templates are no longer included in the "All" count.

Prevent users from being able to delegate to themselves
It is no longer possible for users to accidentally delegate to themselves.

Candidate status folders now hidden in horizontal mode when viewing Unsubmitted
Horizontal candidate workflow mode is now consistent with vertical candidate workflow mode. The folders are not displayed after switching to the Unsubmitted candidates section.

Addressed styling issue with the titles of some pop-up pages
The style of titles on some pop-up pages was not consistent, e.g. managing vacancy templates. Page titles on pop-ups now use the same style throughout the system.

Improvement to key links section on the main dashboard page
The link to the agency portal will now only be displayed if the agency portal is enabled.

Update to data retention mechanism
A scenario was identified which could result in a candidate or person not being deleted when expected if there was already no data stored associated with that person. This scenario is now handled.

Global search on User list page will now search login and email fields
These fields were not previously searched when using the global search field on the User list page and now are.

Improvements to timeline entries related to vacancy status changes
In particular, where an existing client who didn't previously have custom vacancy workflow statuses configured subsequently does have these configured, the Timeline will display entries as expected for the historical system status changes as well as the new custom workflow status changes.

User portal

User names associated with vacancy roles may now be used in lists
User role/name-related fields may now be used as columns in Vacancy and Candidate page lists.

Various improvements to bulk user import functionality
A number of improvements have been made to the bulk user import function. Useful validation messages will now be displayed for a wide variety of common problems encountered when importing users. This includes:

• Incorrect column headings
• Incorrectly named classifier items (quotes also now included, so easy to spot leading/trailing spaces)
• Missing required fields
• Data not being included for required fields
• Multiple options being selected, when only one is supported
• User is not assigned a default preference
• Default identity also now correctly set on user import (previously required an additional Edit+Save to actually save the setting)

Candidate portal

Correction to language name for "Hungarian"
This language was being displayed as the country name (Hungary), rather than the language name.

API

Update to User API
The user API will now support configurations where multiple preferences are defined on the User form.

Vacancy documents API
Vacancy documents now have their own set of APIs:

• Deletes a vacancy document
• Retrieves a vacancy document
• Adds or updates a vacancy document

In addition to and as a result of the above, the Updates a vacancy API call will now ignore anything to do with documents, other than the Guid. This makes the API calls associated with adding and updating vacancies simpler and lighter weight. 

System Builder

New copy form function
The feature introduced earlier this year to allow an entire form to be copied is now available for all form pages, including pop-up pages. Any page may now be copied and added to the same or any other section using the Copy icon next to the page you want to copy.

Field mappings for controls on the page will automatically be mapped to the same location as the original page, but these may be updated if required.

This is expected to allow consultants and partners to perform certain configuration faster, e.g. when adding new pages which are broadly the same or identical to existing pages.

Use of repeater controls and auto-complete controls on the same page
A conflict has been resolved between these two control types, allowing both to be used on the same page from now on. Previously the Add/Remove buttons for a repeater would not behave as expected where an auto-complete field was on the same page.

Configuration of KPIs
Configuration of KPIs is available in Structures > KPIs. Different KPIs require different parameters to be configured, but some fields are common across most KPIs:

• Title - this is displayed to users so give each KPI a short, but meaningful title
• Amber cut-off point - must be entered as numbers only
• Red cut-off point - must be entered as numbers only
• Cut-off scale - where not a percentage, allows you to specify whether the numbers entered for the cut-offs are hours, days, weeks or months
• Date scope - allows a KPI to effectively "reset" on a regular basis, e.g. every week, month or year, so data from a previous period does not need to have an impact or continue to be flagged for each new period
• From/To or Start/End - for KPIs referencing two dates, these fields allow the relevant start point and the end point to be selected
• Stage/Status filters (added as children) - if selected, these cause the KPI to only apply to items at the selected statuses (multiple may be selected)
• Classifier filters (added as children) - if selected, these cause the KPI to only apply to items matching the selected classifier items (multiple may be selected)

Where there are multiple fields to allow a start/end point to be selected, make sure you use only one of the starting point fields and one of the ending point fields.

Note also that it matters whether the larger value is in the Amber or the Red cut-off point, as KPIs may work in both directions. i.e. A KPI can go amber, then red when the KPI is less than the number entered or greater than the number entered, dependent on which one is larger.