Algorithm Utilization As Provided in O Fusion Profile Management

Oracle White Paper Best Fit Algorithm Utilization as Provided in Oracle Fusion Profile Management
An Oracle White Paper

July 2011
Best Fit Algorithm Utilization as Provided

in Oracle Fusion Profile Management
Disclaimer
The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information
purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver
any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing
decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for
Oracles products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.
Contents
Executive Overview ........................................................................... 4
Introduction ....................................................................................... 5
Source Profile Type Selection ........................................................... 5
Accessing Best Fit Functionality ........................................................ 6
Human Resources Specialist Access ............................................ 6
Manager Access ............................................................................ 8
Worker access ............................................................................... 9
Supported Content Types ................................................................ 11
Best Fit Calculation.......................................................................... 11
Best Fit Calculation Example ........................................................... 12
Best Fit Match Results..................................................................... 21
No Result Rows after Default Calculation .................................... 21
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 26
Executive Overview
Profile Management is a Fusion foundation product that contains talent profile
information.
In order for companies to succeed in the world today, they need to create an end-to-end
talent strategy for attracting, retaining and developing people. To do so, everyone who
interacts with talent from recruiters to line managers, from compensation planners to
the Chief Learning Officer must have a common understanding. What are the
responsibilities for job X? What is required to move from position A to position B? What
are our collective strengths and weaknesses?
The first step in answering these questions is to define what jobs or roles are required to
make an organization successful and what attributes are necessary for individuals to
possess to perform successfully in the role. The Profile Content Library holds the key in
determining the attributes needed to be defined to build the necessary model and person
profiles information.
Within existing model and person profiles further processing is necessary to be able to
identify matching profiles. Best Fit functionality provides an algorithm to measure and
identify matching profiles regardless of profile type. Business processes such as the
identification of matches between person and model profiles for developmental or
placement purposes can be undertaken. Matches between similar model profiles or
between similar person profiles can also be identified.
This paper provides a brief overview of delivered Best Fit functionality in Oracle Fusion
Profile Management. The Best Fit process will be illustrated in detail in the document.
Finalized Best Fit result sets can be processed further in terms of other available actions;
for example by using Compare Functionality.
4
Introduction
In a typical installation there is a need to find profiles which match a source profile. Profile
matching occurs across all provided Profile Types.
For example; Job Profiles can be matched to a Person Profile as a means of finding
other jobs for individual development purposes. Job Profiles can be matched with other
Job Profiles to find jobs with similar requirements or Person profiles can be compared
with other person profiles to find workers with matching qualifications.
When the Best Fit algorithm is run, it reviews all profiles of the match type required and
calculates a Best Fit percentage by using the total of all importance scores for each
Content Item in the source profile. Each Content Item Rating in source is then divided by
the source importance total providing a factor per source content item. All profiles in the
target group are then processed by dividing individual content type Ratings by the Source
Profile importance total and this percentage is multiplied by the individual factor per
content item. Finally all scores per matching content item in the target group are added
to provide a match percentage and those above the initial filter of a 90% match are
displayed as a result set.
The details of the calculation are not displayed in the results set.
The results set can be processed further to show details for selected content items and
desired percentage matches or result rows.
The details of the calculation are discussed below.
Source Profile Type Selection

The ability to select source profiles for Best Fit matches is determined by data security
roles as illustrated in the following table based on commonly used profile types:
5
Role Best Fit Job Best Fit Best Fit Job Best Fit
Profile Person Profile Profile Person Profile
matches with matched with matches with matched with
Person Job Profiles Job Profiles Person
Profiles Profiles
Human X X X X
Resources
Specialist
Manager X X
Worker X
Accessing Best Fit Functionality

It should be noted that the Human Resources Specialist role in V1 operates in a different
Profile view and comparisons between all existing Profile Types are allowed. Managers
are able to match job profiles to person profiles and find Best Fit matches between
person profiles. Workers operating within the Profile cards are limited to matching jobs
with selected person profiles.
Human Resources Specialist Access

The Human Resources Specialist is able to access the Best Fit functionality as an action
from the Search Profile pages and from the Profile view. Profiles are accessed using the
following menu path:
Navigator > Search Profiles
The HRS is offered a choice of model or person profile.
If a model profile is selected the Best Fit functionality can be used immediately from the
actions menu in the search results to find suitable matching person or job profiles. For
6
example from a job profile search the Best Fit actions are to match people to the job
profile or to match other jobs to the job profile:
Best Fit match person

profiles to the selected job
profile
Best fit match

similar job profiles
If a person profile is selected the Best Fit functionality can again be used immediately
from the actions menu in the search results to find suitable matching person or job
profiles. For example from a person profile search the Best Fit actions are to match job
profiles to the selected person profile or to match other persons to the person profile:
In addition to Best Fit access via the profile search the HRS is also able to perform a best
match from the person profile view. In this example a person profile shown and the
actions menu allows either a Best Fit job or person match against the person profile:
7
Manager Access
The manager can access the Best Fit functionality at various places in the Portrait.
Navigator > My Portrait
From the portrait the user can access Best Fit action directly from the person profile
search contained in the Person Gallery tab. The manager does not have a model profile
search option in this tab and that person profile results are controlled by the data security
allocated to the manager. When using a person profile the options are to find matching
job profiles or matching person profiles.
8
The Best Fit action is also available from the Organization Chart in the managers profile;
however, in this case the Best Fit functionality is limited to persons appearing in the
organization structure shown to the manager:
Worker access
The worker accesses Best Fit functionality via the portrait.
Navigator > My Portrait
9
The worker can access the Best Fit action from the top of their Portrait page and are able
to find Best Fit jobs or persons for their own profile. Any matching job profile can be
added to the workers interest list. It needs to be pointed out that while a worker is
allowed to operate a Best Fit person match they are limited to finding people for the
purposes on inclusion in their own contact network and do not see the contents of a
another persons profile, beyond contact and job information.
The worker can also use the Best Fit match in their Person Gallery Tab. Once again data
security presents the same limited person profile information. All Best Fit results for job
profiles can be selected for their interest list of jobs they wish to consider either as
candidates or for developmental purposes.
The worker is not permitted to use Best Fit actions in the Organization Chart view which
is presented to them.
10
Supported Content Types
Best Fit functionality operates only in terms of the following delivered content types:
Table 1
Content Type
Competencies
Honors and Awards
Work Requirements
Languages (please note that only Reading Proficiency is considered in calculations).
Degrees
Memberships
Licenses and Certifications
Best Fit functionality is not available for use with free- form or Custom Content types in
Oracle Fusion Version 1.0.
Best Fit Calculation

Before proceeding to review the results obtained in a Best Fit match it is necessary to
explain the manner in which the match is calculated.
11
The Best Fit calculation is difficult to represent as a formula and is easier shown as an
algorithm:
Step 1
Total all Importance values contained in the Source

Profile.
This provides a single Total Source Importance value.
Step 2
Divide the Rating for each Content Item in Target

Profile with the Total Obtained in Step 1.
This provides a factor.
Step 3
Divide the Rating for Content Item in Target (Step 2) by

the Importance value (Step 1) for the matching Content
Item in Source. Step 3(a)
This provides an unweighted score per Source Content If the Value of the
Item. Calculation in Step 3 is
greater than 100%
reduce to 100%
Step 4
Multiply the Unweighted score per Content Item from

Step 3 with the Content Item Factor arrived at in Step 2.
This provides a weighted score per Target Content Item.
Step 5
Total all weighted scores Per Target Profile.
This Provides the Overall Fit percentage.

Best Fit Calculation Example
In this example, the user seeks a match between person profiles using employee ID
100000008153773 as the source profile
12
The overall fit Overall Fit query runs to completion and produces the following result:
Since the only match above 90% Overall Fit is the source itself the User lowers the
overall fit requirement to 50% to view a larger result:
The Details column in Criteria Section above the results contains the Importance score in
text format for each of the 7 supported Content Items. A supported content item may or
may not be included in an individual source profile. Click on the Details Icon in the
Details column. In this case we are showing an illustration of the Importance text for
Competencies:
13
The Importance text does not show the numerical value attached to the displayed text,
however, the calculation makes this conversion in terms of the values given in the table
below.
The Importance rating scale and attendant numerical values for Importance is hard-
coded and cannot be configured in the system.
Importance Text Importance Value
Very Important 5
Important 4
High 3
Medium 2
Low 1
Default Importance values per Content Type are optionally entered in the selected profile
type. When a profile type is utilized to create an individual profile, these values are
transferred unseen to the created profile.
It is important to note that the system does not display the importance values in an
individual source profile.
In this example, the user seeks a match between person profiles using employee ID
100000008153773 as the source profile and employee ID 100000008153756 as a
selected match from the result set.
14
First, the Importance values for all content items in the source profile are summed.
A total of 40 is obtained.
Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Text Individual Importance
for Source Profile Content Value for Source
Items Profile Content Items
Competency Problem Solving Medium 2
Communication Medium 2
Team Work Medium 2
Customer Focus Medium 2
Adapting to Change Medium 2
Results Orientation Medium 2
Quality Medium 2
Organizational Awareness Medium 2
Building Relationships Medium 2
Decision Making Medium 2
Influencing and Medium 2

Negotiating
15
Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Text Individual Importance

for Source Profile Content Value for Source
Items Profile Content Items
Innovation Medium 2
Honors and Awards Outstanding Contributor Medium 2

award
Safety prevention award Medium 2
Work Requirements NONE IN SOURCE NONE IN SOURCE 0
Language English Medium 2

French Medium 2
Spanish Medium 2
Degrees Bachelor of Science Medium 2
Memberships Association Intl Medium 2

Toastmasters
Licenses and Notary Public Medium 2

Certifications
Step 2 requires that the individual Importance value for each content item in source be
divided by the obtained total of 40:
16
Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Value Derived weight to be

for Source Profile Content utilized when
Items divided by Total processing unweighted
Importance Values score to be arrived at
in Step 3
Competency Problem Solving 2 / 40 0.5
Communication 2 / 40 0.5
Team Work 2 / 40 0.5
Customer Focus 2 / 40 0.5
Adapting to Change 2 / 40 0.5
Results Orientation 2 / 40 0.5
Quality 2 / 40 0.5
Organizational Awareness 2 / 40 0.5
Building Relationships 2 / 40 0.5
Decision Making 2 / 40 0.5
Influencing and 2 / 40 0.5

Negotiating
Innovation Medium 2
17
Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Value Derived weight to be

for Source Profile Content utilized when
Items divided by Total processing unweighted
Importance Values score to be arrived at
in Step 3
Honors and Awards Outstanding Contributor 2 / 40 0.5
award
Safety prevention award 2 / 40 0.5
Work Requirements NONE IN SOURCE 0/40 0
Language English 2 / 40 0.5
French 2 / 40 0.5
Spanish 2 / 40 0.5
Degrees Bachelor of Science 2 / 40 0.5
Memberships Association Intl 2 / 40 0.5

Toastmasters
Licenses and Notary Public 2 / 40 0.5

Certifications
TOTAL 80
With the first 2 elements of the calculation having been obtained the system divides the
importance rating for each content item in source by the numerical value of any Rating
Model utilized for each of the matches Content Items in target. The calculation ensures
that all values are limited to 100% if the total returned exceeds 100.
18
Content Type Content Item Individual Ratings Per Divide Rating Maxim
Importance Content Item by Importance Calculated
Value for for Target Value Limited
Source Profile Profile to 100% if >
Content Items than 100%
Competency Problem 2 4 4/2%=200% 100%
Solving
Communication 2 4 4/2%=200% 100%
Team Work 2 3 3/2%=150% 100%
Customer 2 4 4/2%=200% 100%
Focus
Adapting to 2 4 4/2%=200% 100%
Change
Results 2 5 5/2%=250% 100%
Orientation
Quality 2 3 3/2%=150% 100%
Organizational 2 5 5/2%=250% 100%
Awareness
Building 2 2 2/2%=100% 100%
Relationships
Decision 2 2 2/2%=100% 100%
Making
Influencing and 2 2 2/2%=100% 100%
Negotiating
Innovation 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Honors and Outstanding 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Awards Contributor
award
Safety 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
prevention
award
Work NONE IN 0 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Requirements SOURCE
Language English 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
French 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Spanish 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Degrees Bachelor of 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Science
Memberships Association Intl 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Toastmasters
Licenses and Notary Public 2 0 0/2%=0% 0%
Certifications
TOTAL 40
Now multiply the unweighted score from the table above with the factor obtained in Step
2:
19
Content Type Content Item Unweighted Factor Multiply Maxim

Score Unweighted Calculated
score by Value Limited
Factor to 100% if >
than 100%
Competency Problem 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Solving
Communication 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Team Work 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Customer 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Focus
Adapting to 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Change
Results 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Orientation
Quality 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Organizational 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Awareness
Building 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Relationships
Decision 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Making
Influencing and 100% 0.5 0.5*100= 5
Negotiating
Innovation 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Honors and Outstanding 0% 0.5 0.5*0= 0
Awards Contributor
award
Safety 0% 0.5 0*0= 0
prevention
award
Work NONE IN 0% 0 0*0= 0
Requirements SOURCE
Language English 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
French 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Spanish 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Degrees Bachelor of 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Science
Memberships Association Intl 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Toastmasters
Licenses and Notary Public 0% 0.5 0*0.5= 0
Certifications
TOTAL 55%
The total is the overall fit percentage. This in this case employee 100000008153756
(target) is an overall fit of 55% in terms their person profile related to source
100000008153773. This overall fit percentage is arrived at in terms of the default
calculation.
20
It should be noted that all importance values in seeded Content Items equal 2.
Best Fit Match Results
After using the Best Fit action based on a source profile the user is presented with a set
of results in the Best Fit page. It should be noted that a default calculation is used to
establish the first set of results. Results shown in the Best Fit page can be further
refined, however, it should be noted that on occasion the User will not see any results
because the criteria set in the default calculation have not been matched. Similarly,
because the result set is limited to a display of 25 rows the user will need to enter more
detailed criteria to ensure an accurate representation of matching profiles.
The default calculation uses a filter to ensure that only results equal or greater than a
90% overall match are shown. Two examples are given, in the first, the system returns
no results and in the second a set of results is returned:
No Result Rows after Default Calculation

The example used below shows that there is no data to display in the Results work area.
The reason for this is that there are no profiles to match the source profile after the
algorithm has calculated a overall percentage match of 90% or greater
21
Icon used to add a selected

job profile result row to an
interest list in a source
person profile
The user is able to adjust the overall fit percentage to achieve a larger result. In this
example the overall fit percentage is lowered to 20% as there are no job profile matches
above 40% for the selected person profile.
At the same time the user may wish to use the criteria work area to enable a different
calculation. A different calculation can be achieved only by changing the importance
value for each content item in the source profile. The Priority column allows for the
selection of an importance value to apply to all content items within the content type
being processed.
22
It is also possible to use the Details icon in the Details column and to use individual
importance values for different content items within a content type.
The final column in the Criteria work area allows for the display of any matched content
Types. Matches are indicated with a green tick icon and by hovering over each tick the
user is given the percentage match for the displayed Content Item.
23
The details of matched content items within a ticked Content Item are not obtainable via
Best Fit and would be viewed via the separate Compare functionality also provided as an
action for a Best Fit result set.
Further filters are available for results. It is possible to use the Show Fit By Criteria list
of values to filter out any Content Type matches which are not greater than or equal to
the selected value. In this example all content type matches exceeding 90% are to be
shown for profile matches which have an overall fit of 20%.
24
Where necessary the user can control the number of results returned by toggling
between the Overall Fit and Number of Profiles values. When selecting the display of a
number of profiles the user is presented with different fields to enter the number of result
rows returned and to apply a sort either the highest or lowest profile matches as selected
by the user.
25
In a situation in which a large number of equally qualified matches are returned caution
should be exercised in using controlled results rows for making selections which may
have equity jurisdiction impacts. Controlling the number of results displayed may exclude
profiles which are equal in every respect to those which are selected for display.
Conclusion
In conclusion it should be noted that Best Fit functionality represents profile information at
a specific moment in time. Given the frequency with which person profiles in particular
change no provision has been made for the saving of processed results sets.
The rounding of calculated percentages will mean that matches of 0.4 and less are
rounded down to be shown as 0% within a result set.
26
Best Fit Algorithm Utilization as Provided in
Oracle Fusion Profile Management
November 2013
Author: Claudia Roberts-Hawkins
Contributing Authors: Michael Gervais
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Oracle White Paper Best Fit Algorithm Utilization as Provided in Oracle Fusion Profile Management

An Oracle White Paper

Best Fit Algorithm Utilization as Provided

The details of the calculation are discussed below.

Source Profile Type Selection

Accessing Best Fit Functionality

Human Resources Specialist Access

Navigator > Search Profiles

The HRS is offered a choice of model or person profile.

Best Fit match person

Best fit match

Navigator > My Portrait

Supported Content Types

Honors and Awards

Languages (please note that only Reading Proficiency is considered in calculations).

Licenses and Certifications

Best Fit Calculation

Total all Importance values contained in the Source

This provides a single Total Source Importance value.

Divide the Rating for each Content Item in Target

This provides a factor.

Divide the Rating for Content Item in Target (Step 2) by

Multiply the Unweighted score per Content Item from

This provides a weighted score per Target Content Item.

Total all weighted scores Per Target Profile.

This Provides the Overall Fit percentage.

Competency Problem Solving Medium 2

Team Work Medium 2

Customer Focus Medium 2

Adapting to Change Medium 2

Results Orientation Medium 2

Building Relationships Medium 2

Decision Making Medium 2

Influencing and Medium 2

Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Text Individual Importance

Honors and Awards Outstanding Contributor Medium 2

Safety prevention award Medium 2

Work Requirements NONE IN SOURCE NONE IN SOURCE 0

Language English Medium 2

Degrees Bachelor of Science Medium 2

Memberships Association Intl Medium 2

Licenses and Notary Public Medium 2

Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Value Derived weight to be

Team Work 2 / 40 0.5

Customer Focus 2 / 40 0.5

Adapting to Change 2 / 40 0.5

Results Orientation 2 / 40 0.5

Building Relationships 2 / 40 0.5

Decision Making 2 / 40 0.5

Influencing and 2 / 40 0.5

Content Type Content Item Individual Importance Value Derived weight to be

Safety prevention award 2 / 40 0.5

Work Requirements NONE IN SOURCE 0/40 0

Language English 2 / 40 0.5

Memberships Association Intl 2 / 40 0.5

Licenses and Notary Public 2 / 40 0.5

Content Type Content Item Unweighted Factor Multiply Maxim

Best Fit Match Results

No Result Rows after Default Calculation

Icon used to add a selected

Phone: +1.650.506.7000 owners.

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