You perform resource searches primarily to fill a resource requirement on a project. They can also be performed independent of filling a specific requirement and to just search the resource repository for having specific resources.
For more information about the creation and maintenance of project requirements and assignments, see Defining Scheduled Team Members.
When performing a resource search for a requirement, the dates of the requirement are compared with the availability of the resource. If these time periods match, the resource is considered a candidate for the requirement given the other search criteria for the requirement also matches.
Only valid resources (including future-date people) are considered in resource search queries. Valid resources include both employees and contingent workers. In order for a person to be considered a qualified resource within Oracle Project Resource Management, certain criteria must be met. For a complete list of the criteria, see: Processes in Oracle Projects. For information about contingent workers, see: Support for Contingent Workers.
A single collection of your resources, their skill sets, and their availability enables you to utilize and manage your resources both effectively and efficiently. To establish such a resource pool, you must understand your enterprise structure, the job groupings, and the required and desired competencies of the resources.
This section describes the resource pool and how to perform resource searches on it.
In addition to specific search criteria, you can also search for resources using the following optional search criteria:
If selected, the Minimum Availability percentage specified above is calculated using both the confirmed and provisional assignments. This means that the resource must have both a definite and potential availability match percentage greater than the minimum availability percentage specified, in order to be returned. For more information, see Availability Percentages.
Each project requirement has defined minimum and maximum job levels for the purpose of resource searching. During a search, the job levels of the resources are compared to the minimum and maximum job levels of the requirement. If the job level of a resource falls between the minimum and maximum job levels of the requirement, the resource is considered a possible match for the requirement given other search criteria are met.
The default values of the Minimum and Maximum Job Level fields come from the levels defined on the requirement, but you can modify them on the Modify Search Criteria page. Modifying these values on this page does not change the original definition on the requirement. The original definition of the requirement is available on the Requirement Details page.
The minimum and maximum job levels are based on the job levels associated with the job group specified as the value for the profile option PA: Project Resource Job Group. For this profile option, you enter the name of the job group you want used as the collection of jobs included in searches. This profile option is set at the site level only.
You can use the master job group as the value of this profile option, but remember that it includes every job. If you have jobs that you do not want included in job searches such as accounts payable jobs, administrative jobs, and human resource jobs that are not related to staffing projects, then you can set up a separate job group specifically for searching. This job group should include all jobs that you want included in searches.
All mandatory and optional competencies of the requirement are compared to those of the resource. Resources with the mandatory competencies and desired competence levels are potential matches given the other search criteria are met. If a competence associated with a resource or requirement has no defined proficiency level, then it is considered to be at the lowest proficiency level.
For each matching resource, the matches between the optional competencies of the requirement and the competencies of the resource display in the following format: 0/2. The first number indicates the number of matches, and the second number refers to the actual number of optional competencies of the requirement. For example, 4/5 means that the resource has four of the five optional competencies at the specified proficiency level for the requirement.
The competencies in the search criteria page default from the competencies defined for the requirement. However, you can modify these competencies and their associated proficiency levels and mandatory flag settings on this page. Your modifications are specific to this search only, and do not change the original definition on the requirement.
In addition to specifying individual competencies, you can also just specify a parent competence, where a parent competence is a rollup of many competencies with the same competence structure. All resources with any competence in that parent competence at the specified proficiency level will be considered as match for the criteria. For example, you can search for resources that have skill in the parent competence "Oracle Technical...", instead of specifying the detailed child competencies within the parent, such as "Oracle Technical: SQL" or "Oracle Technical: PLSQL" or "Oracle Technical: Forms."
To speed up your competence entry in your search criteria, you can copy role competencies predefined roles. For example, if you are searching for a database engineer, instead of entering in each competence for the database engineer, you can copy the already defined competencies associated with the role of the database engineer.
The work preferences are defined by the resources in their Professional Details profile in Self Service Human Resources. If you choose to search based on work specified preferences, then only the resources that have the matching work preference defined in their profile will be returned. If you do not select any work preference option in the search criteria, then the work preferences are not considered for finding matching resources.
The location refers to the country, state and city of the primary address of the resource. If you specify a location of city, state, or region in the search criteria, the search will return resources who have matching locations, as well as resources who do not have any locations defined in HR.
If the country, state or city of a resource is a valid match to the criteria as of the start date of the requirement, then the location of that resource is a match. For example, if you are searching for resources in a specific country, the search process compares the start date of the requirement to the effective date of the address for each resource to identify potential matches. Therefore, if a resource is moving to the identified location prior to the start of the requirement, the resource may be a potential match for the requirement.