Using Opportunity Marketplace Assignments

Assignments are internal work opportunities that last for a specified time, usually shorter than 12 months. Typical assignments include:

• Projects
• Fellowships
• Vocational training
• Internships

The process for creating and using assignments has many steps:

1. Assignment Owners create and publish the assignment, triggering assignment published notifications to managers. Status: Publication Pending Approval.
2. Once the assignment is approved it changes to a status of Published and employees can then apply for assignments that are recommended to them. The published status starts the Hiring Process.
3. Approvers can approve or deny the employee’s application, and if approved the employee will see a status of Applied for that assignment. Employees can re-apply if their application is not approved.
4. Once applications are received the assignment owners can send offers to those employees that match the attributes they’re looking for. Offer received and offer sent notification emails are sent, and the applicant’s assignment status changes to Offer Received.
5. Applicants can accept or reject their offers, which triggers notification emails depending on their choice. When offers are accepted the applicant’s assignment status changes to Offer Pending Approval.
6. Approvers can choose to accept or decline offers, which triggers additional notification emails. Once the offer is approved the applicant’s assignment status changes to Offer Accepted. If the offer is declined, employees may re-apply at a later date.
7. An assignment automatically starts when the earliest date on which applicants start their work is reached, and the applicant’s assignment status changes to Ongoing.
8. Assignments can be closed either manually by assignment owners at any time, or automatically when the last date on which applicants complete their work is reached. Status would be Closed for assignment owners or Completed for applicants. A status of Canceled is used for applicants who accepted offers but haven’t started the assignment yet.

The Configure Assignments tool in Admin Center allows administrators to define the types of assignments that will be created; details for each assignment type such as if manager emails should be sent and which approval workflow to use; custom fields; and other general assignment settings.

The following options are available in Configure Assignments:

1. General Settings: Set default settings for all assignments, including:
   1. Selecting if the part-time participation measurement should be based on a percentage or hours per week. When hours per week is selected a maximum number of hours for part-time assignments needs to be entered.
   2. Selecting a default assignment owner as a replacement for inactive owners who are going to be purged.
   3. Selecting notification preference settings. Administrators can set up reminders for assignment owners, co-owners, and applicants regarding the start and end dates of the assignments.
2. Configure Assignment Fields (screen shown below):
   • Standard fields can have the status configured as required, optional, or hidden. Some fields such as Type and Name are required by default.
   • Custom fields can be defined and used with different assignment types. Select Custom Fields and choose + (Create) to add custom fields.
3. Add Assignment Types: Up to 50 assignment types can be added to meet business needs.
4. Assignment Types list: The assignment types that have been added are listed so they can be selected and edited.
5. Edit the details of the highlighted assignment type.
6. Basic details of the highlighted assignment type.
7. Require Notifications or Approvals: Enable email notifications and approvals for the highlighted assignment type so that, for this type, managers can receive email notifications of some scenarios; and approvers can approve or decline the publication, application, and offer requests. Email templates can be found under Admin Center→E-Mail Notification Template Settings.
   1. Emails to managers can be enabled when an assignment is published, when a user applies for an assignment, and when an offer is accepted. There are many assignment email templates available in Email Notification Templates Settings, and the templates can be customized for different assignment types.
   2. Workflows can be assigned to each scenario listed above. Workflows are a multi-step process during which approvers, contributors, and CC roles can work together to process a request. Approval Workflows are created using Admin Center→Manage Organization, Pay and Job Structures. For detailed information on using advanced approval workflows, see the help topic "Advanced Approval Workflows for Assignments."
   
8. Feedback Request: Choose whether to request feedback from assignment applicants, the applicant's manager, or the assignment owner. When feedback request is enabled for a particular role, the timer can be set for how many days after the assignment completion to send the feedback request email notification. In addition, the URL of the survey needs to be entered which is then automatically included in the email notification template Assignment Feedback Request Notification.
9. Configure Fields: For each assignment type, the display order of both standard and custom fields can be adjusted. Select Edit to change the display order.

Assignments can be created, individually or in bulk, at any time by users with the Create Assignments permission.

To create a new assignment, from the Opportunity Marketplace screen select Manage Opportunity Offerings and choose Create Assignment. Assignments can be created using Generative AI (AI Unit license required), they can be created from scratch, or an existing assignment can be copied to create a new one. If AI is used to create an assignment, the assignment details can be re-generated through the Edit Assignment screen.

The following details are available when assignments are created:

• Type: Select the type of assignment. Assignment types are created in Configure Assignments.
• Assignment name and description: Enter a name and description for the assignment. The description field supports rich text format, and AI-Assisted Writing is available to help with writing descriptions.
• Image: An image can be uploaded. If a default image was set for the assignment type under General Settings, it will be shown.
• Start and end dates of the assignment.

• Total number of openings for the assignment.
• Participation: Select full-time or part-time. If part-time is selected the participation hours or percentage needs to be entered.
• Work model: Select remote, onsite, or flexible. If onsite or flexible is selected the location(s) needs to be chosen.
• Team (optional): If Dynamic Teams are enabled a team can be chosen for the assignment.
• Co-Owners (optional): Assignment co-owners can be chosen. For a published assignment, co-owners share the same permissions as assignment owners. But only assignment owners can modify the Dynamic Team linked to an assignment.
• Job Role (optional): A job role can be tied to the assignment. If a role is assigned, skills and competencies associated with the selected job role are automatically populated in the Attributes field.
• If custom fields have been configured for the assignment type, they’ll be listed after Job Role. For our sample screen, Relocation Offered and Travel Details are custom fields.

• Attributes: Select the attributes to be associated with this assignment using + (Create). Once the attributes are selected, the proficiency level can be set and whether that attribute is required for the assignment. If a role is assigned, skills and competencies associated with the selected job role are automatically populated in the Attributes field.

Once an assignment is created, it can be saved as a draft or published. When the assignment is published, it moves to the hiring process.

The Assignments Owned by Me screen under Manage My Opportunities will list all of the user's assignments, with the action menu options of Edit, Copy, Close Hiring, and End Assignment.

Selecting an assignment will open the Assignment Details screen with the options to edit or copy the assignment, close the hiring, end the assignment, or share a link to the assignment. The Applicants tab helps manage all applicants to the assignment.

The hiring process starts with the status Hiring after assignments are published. Users can apply to the assignment, and applicants can be managed using the Assignment Details→Applicants screen.

The following features are available from the Assignment Details→Applicants screen:

1. Name and timeframe of the Assignment.
2. Filters available for the applicant list.
3. Hide the Filter panel. A Filters button will unhide the panel.
4. Edit the Assignment.
5. Copy the Assignment to create a new assignment.
6. Close hiring for the Assignment.
7. End the Assignment.
8. Share a link to the Assignment.
9. Decline Applications: Assignment owners and co-owners can withdraw assignment offers even after applicants have accepted the offer. Select at least one applicant and choose the decline option. Employees can re-apply to declined assignments.
10. Change the Sort Order of the applicant list.
11. Select an applicant name to see more details about the application.

Once an applicant receives an offer, they’ll have the opportunity to Accept or Reject the assignment. This can be done from the applicant’s Home Page through an approval card, or from the applicant’s Assignment Details screen.

An assignment automatically starts, with the applicant’s assignment status changed to Ongoing, when the earliest date on which applicants start their work is reached. The assignment hiring process remains open until it is closed in one of the following three scenarios:

• Assignment owners close hiring (by choosing Close Hiring).
• Assignment owners end assignments (by choosing End Assignment).
• All seats are fully filled.

When assignment owners or co-owners close the hiring for an assignment:

• Existing applicants that haven't accepted an offer won't be automatically declined when the seats aren't filled. Assignment owners and co-owners can continue to work on existing applications.
• The assignment is taken down from Opportunity Marketplace. The assignment will not be recommended or be found via search.
• When there are still open seats and more new applications are needed, assignment owners and co-owners can edit and republish the assignment.

An assignment can be closed, either manually by assignment owners or automatically when the last date on which applicants complete their work is reached. Assignment owners can manually close assignments at any time after assignments are published, resulting in the following statuses:

• For assignment owners: Closed.
• For applicants who already started assignments: Completed.
• For applicants who accepted offers but haven't started assignments: Canceled.

If assignment owners don't manually close assignments, assignments are automatically closed after all applicants complete their assignments, resulting in the following statuses:

• For assignment owners: Closed.
• For applicants: Completed.

• Assignments are internal work opportunities lasting up to 12 months, including projects, fellowships, and internships.
• The assignment process involves creation, approval, application, offer, acceptance, and completion stages.
• Administrators can configure assignment types, fields, notifications, feedback, and approval workflows in the Admin Center.
• Assignments can be created individually or in bulk, with options for AI assistance and custom fields.
• The hiring process includes managing applicants, offers, and assignment statuses, with options to close or end assignments.