Assessments
Recommendation, 2007 April 15
Editor:
Chuck Allen, HR-XML Consortium
Kim Bartkus, HR-XML Consortium
Authors:
Romuald Restout, Humanuo; Drew Cox, ePredix
Contributors:
Doug Walner, PSI; Chris Simpson, Oracle; Bill Kerr, Oracle; Brad Whitney, American Background Check; Craig Corner, First Advantage; and other members of the Assessment Order project.
Copyright statement
©2005 HR-XML. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Abstract
This document describes order requests to providers of assessment and testing services. It also includes the return of assessment status and results.
Status of this Document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
Table of Contents
1.4.1 Items within the Design Scope
1.4.2 Items Outside of Design Scope
2 Supported Business Processes
3.2 AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement
4 Implementation Considerations
4.2 Laws Governing Consumer/Investigative Reports
5 Appendix A - Document Version History
6 Appendix B – Related Documents
7 Appendix C – Grade/Band vs. Score
8 Appendix D – Reference Examples
8.2 Assessment Order Acknowledgement
The Assessments specification and schemas support order requests to providers of assessment and testing services. The specification also is designed to support the return of assessment status and results. This specification includes the following schemas:
· AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement
· AssessmentOrderRequest
· AssessmentStatusRequest
· AssessmentCancelRequest
· AssessmentResult
An additional schema is also included in the specification that merely acts as a placeholder for types that are used throughout other schemas
· AssessmentTypes
Also see the related Assessment Catalog specification, which allows for the exchange of, and queries against, an assessment catalog (see Appendix B – Related Documents).
Assessments have always been part of the HR function. At selection or evaluation time, managers have always tried to evaluate the skills of candidates/employees.
Companies are now provided with numerous tools and/or services to help managers assess individuals. Those tool and services are most often offered by assessment providers, which perform and/or evaluate the assessment on behalf of companies.
Currently HR systems, customer systems, and the assessment vendor systems are unable to universally exchange information. This leaves HR customers with the burden of keying data to multiple systems or writing programs to facilitate a particular vendor. The requirement to develop custom interfaces to each assessment firm makes it more difficult and expensive for employers or HR service partners to establish business relationships with background checking firms.
Employers are increasingly interested in using the assessment instruments, tools, and expertise offered by third-party assessment services. While many third-party assessment tools have been well established as valid predictors of performance, it can be difficult and expensive to integrate a collection of these third-party assessments within HR systems. Integration is important, since employers want to monitor assessment statuses and apply assessment results within the workflow and decision-support framework provided by their HR or recruiting systems.
Additional results
When passing assessment results from the provider to the customer, some information cannot be passed with the current specification. Some examples of the missing information are: a graph representing the distribution of subjects into grades, an hyperlink to a more detailed report, an official transcript, etc.
Need IDs for Scores.
Technical Issue: Currently, there is no guaranteed way to
reference a score from the UserArea element. While there are many ways to
refer to a score, using the XSD ID type on an optional attribute would offload
work to the XML Parser being used and allow many different XML Viewers.
Business Issue: Often there is a relationship between individual scores in a set of results. Depending on the business relationship or consumer of the XML (EAI usage of HR-XML can’t be ruled out), it might be necessary to show this relationship. Using ID and IDREF, this can easily be accomplished. This is not the only business reason for the change as there are probably many other uses of an ID attribute.
The term “assessment” can encompass a wide variety of tests, screenings, and instruments. Assessments can include tests of both “hard skills” (generally, technical abilities acquired through training and education) and/or “soft skills” (a diverse range of abilities or personal characteristics such as customer orientation, analytical thinking, leadership skills, team-building skills, listening skills, diplomacy, etc.). The instruments used to assess hard skills and soft skills can be very complex. Depending on the instrument, understanding the assessment results may be relatively straightforward or the results may require interpretation by an expert before they can be applied to a decision.
Multiple schemas
The assessment lifecycle was separated into five schemas to allow for:
Backward Compatibility
All changes to existing schemas are done in a way that enables continuing
support of Assessment 1.0 specification.
Thus, all XML instances that validate against an Assessment 1.0 schema must still validate against a 1.1 schema
Multi-phase approach
The objectives will be filled using a multi-phase approach.
Support of other standards
Some specifications from other
standard bodies have been identified as being potentially similar to
Assessments, on a process perspective. Among them are OAGI Order and UBL Order.
One project requirement was to support, if applicable, existing specification.
It appeared after evaluation
that these specifications didn’t meet Assessments objectives, and
therefore were not taken into account when designing Assessments schemas.
Existing specifications were aiming at order of physical goods rather than
order of services.
A challenge faced by the HR-XML Consortium’s Assessment Order project was to manage the potential complexity involved in designing a specification to support assessments. One of the important ways the project team managed complexity was to limit the initial scope of its work.
The HR-XML Assessments specification includes six schemas:
· Assessment Order Request - A schema to support assessment requests to assessment providers. The schema is flexible enough to transmit information required to execute assessments that a client might arrange with an assessment provider
· Assessment Order Acknowledgement - A schema to support acknowledgment of an assessment order. The schema provides also for handling assessment setting details as provided by the assessment provider
· Assessment Result - A schema to transmit assessment results to a client of an assessment provider
· Assessment Cancel Request – A schema to transmit the cancellation of an assessment order from a client to an assessment provider.
· Assessment Status Request - A schema to query the status of a particular assessment order.
· Assessment Types - A schema that is used within acknowledgment and results schemas to handle the information related to the status of the assessment order.
Outside of the design scope of the Assessment Order specification is the transmission of:
· Question sets or the content of assessment instruments.
· Orders or results for consumer or investigative reports and evaluations. (See Section 4.2, Laws Governing Consumer/Investigative Reports)
In this version of the HR-XML Consortium’s assessment specification, it is assumed that trading partners (for example, an employer’s applicant tracking solution and a third-party testing service) agree in advance on a set of assessment instruments or "packages" that can be ordered. The package may be requested through the catalog using the Id. This greatly simplifies assessment requests since it is not necessary to transmit detailed assessment content in an assessment order. Because packages have been agreed upon in advance, a company ordering an assessment needs only to transmit an identifier for the particular assessment package ordered rather than having to pass any detailed assessment content. Similarly, the assessment project team simplified the return of assessment results by focusing on a simple, but flexible structure for result information.
The Assessment Order specification is sufficiently generalized to be useful in a wide variety of scenarios. Examples of processes that are supported by the specification are:
· Candidate Selection. During the selection process, companies want to make sure they hire the right person. To do so, they will need to check the particular competencies of the candidate. This includes, but is not limited to:
· Employee evaluation. Regular employees are evaluated for compensation, promotion planning, training estimates or other purposes. This includes, but is not limited to:
The transactions supported by this specification are typically between an employer and an assessment provider. However, assessment transactions also are likely to take place between an assessment provider and the agent of an employer, such as an Applicant Tracking System or a Staffing company.
The third actor involved in the assessment process is the subject. This is actually the person who is taking the assessment.
The diagram depicted below (Figure 1) illustrates a supported assessment scenario in the context of recruiting.
The acknowledgement process is recommended but optional.
Either the customer or assessment provider, depending on the trading partner agreement, is responsible for inviting the subject to take an assessment.
The use-cases describe in a more detailed fashion all activities that deal with the recruiting process.

Figure 1: Assessment Process (Recruiting Context)
Use Cases
The following diagram shows what use cases will be supported by the Assessments specification. Note that the diagram includes a use case for the package query. Details on the package query are found in the Assessment Catalog document (see Appendix B – Related Documents).

Figure 2 - Assessment Use Cases
Client initiates three of those use cases.
The vendor initiates the fourth use case
4. The vendor can at any time notify his client about a change in the status of the assessment (candidate declines to take the assessment, candidate takes the test, assessment results are processed).
The following diagram details the typical scenario of a customer requesting an assessment, and the subsequent activities.

Figure 3 – Request an Assessment
A typical scenario within one of the processes described in section 2 Reported Business Processes would be:
· The recruiter (or manager) wants a subject to be assessed.
· The recruiter selects a package to evaluate against, based on a Trading Partner Agreement (TPA) that was defined when the customer and assessment provider decided to work together.
· The request is sent to the assessment provider, including the assessment package, the subject to assess, the context of the assessment, and a formal reference such as a P.O. number.
·
The assessment provider processes the request, and acknowledges
it.
If the request presents any error such as a wrong package or no subject, the
acknowledgment will contain an “error” status (see lifecycle).
If the request is correct, the acknowledgment will set the request to
“acknowledged”, and provide necessary information for inviting the
candidate to the assessment.
·
The recruiter can then invite the subject to be assessed using
the most appropriate way to communicate this: email with facility address for a
proctored assessment, URL for a direct web assessment, etc.
Alternately, subject’s invitation can be done directly by the assessment
provider.
· At some point in time, the subject takes the assessment.
·
Then, the assessment provider processes the subject’s
answers, the outcome being the subject’s results. Results can contain an
overall score as well as detailed scores.
These results are sent to the recruiter who includes them into the selection
decision.
The following diagram details the typical scenario of a customer canceling an assessment, and the subsequent activities.

Figure 4 - Cancel an Assessment
A typical scenario would be:
· An assessment request has been transmitted to the assessment provider. However, a recruiter (or manager) determines there is no longer a need to assess the subject. This may be due to many causes: background check results received, position cancelled or filled, etc.
· The manager sends a cancellation request to the assessment provider.
· The vendor cancels the request.
· The vendor sends verification of the cancellation to the customer.
The following diagram details the typical scenario of a customer querying an assessment, and the subsequent activities.

Figure 5 - Query Assessment Status
The following diagram shows the typical lifecycle of an assessment. Please note, this lifecycle is suggested, not required.

Figure 6 - Assessment Lifecycle
When the request is sent to the assessment provider, the assessment is pending, until the customer receives a message from the assessment provider: an acknowledgment, or partial or complete results.
If the acknowledgment process is supported, the assessment
will be acknowledged after receiving the AssessmentAcknowledgment from the
assessment provider.
The provider or customer can invite the subject, thus having the assessment
being scheduled.
As soon as the subject starts the assessment, and the provider starts to obtain
partial results, the assessment is in progress, until the candidate completes
everything.
During any time in the process, the assessment can be cancelled by the customer, declined by the candidate, or may fail and receive an error.

|
Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.] |
ContentModel* |
Definition |
|
/ |
- AssessmentOrderRequestType - (1/1) |
Container for AssessmentOrderRequest schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to initiate an assessment request. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A value
that uniquely identifies a client for the 3rd party vendor (assessor). It is
up to the vendor to provide the client its identifier. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A unique identifier for a Background Search or Assessment Package. Context definition: Identifies the package of assessments being ordered for the Subject. PackageIds are supplied by the Assessment Vendor to the Client in a Trading Partner Agreement. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- EntityIdType - S (0/1) |
A unique
identifier for the provider. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- EntityIdType - S (0/*) |
Indicates
the group(s) this assessment should be included in when comparing assessment
results. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A unique
identifier, for the client, to identify the order. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- xsd:string - S (1/1) |
The individual that makes the request for the assessment. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
SubjectId
- EntityIdType - S
(1/1) |
The person who will be the subject of the assessment. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentSubject/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A unique
identifier for the person (subject) taking the assessment . |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentSubject/ |
- ContactMethodType - S (0/*) |
Defines
the methods to contact a person or organizations. |
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- AssessmentPersonDescriptorsType - S (0/1) |
A set of demographic characteristics collected for purposes of test analysis or government compliance. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ |
- AssessmentLegalIdentifiersType - S (0/1) |
Legal
identifiers for a person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ |
- PersonLegalIdType - S (0/*) |
A legal
id, such as a social insurance or taxpayer identification number. A unique
government or other legal identifier for a person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ |
xsd:extension base: xsd:string |
Describes whether a person’s is currently a member of the military and other information regarding military status. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ MilitaryStatus/ |
- xsd:string - |
Further defines the associated element in the context provided. |
|
|
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ |
- AssessmentDemographicDescriptorsType - S (0/1) |
A collection of demographic descriptors for a person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/*) |
Describes the race of the person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/*) |
The ethnicity of the person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/*) |
The
person's status for belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or
naturalization. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ |
- LanguageCodeType - S (0/*) |
A
person’s primary or preferred language. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ |
- AssessmentBiologicalDescriptorsType - S (0/1) |
A collection of biological descriptors for a person. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ |
- xsd:date - C (0/1) |
A
person's birth date. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ |
- xsd:gMonthDay - C (0/1) |
The month and day of a person's birth date. The month and day of a person's birth date. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ |
AgeNumeric
- xsd:nonNegativeInteger - C (1/1) |
The age of a person, specified in years. The age of a person, specified in years. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ Age/ |
- xsd:nonNegativeInteger - C (1/1) |
A person’s age in years. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ Age/ |
|
A designated band in which the person’s age falls. [Example(s): 20 - 30; 31 – 40; 41-50, etc. ] |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ |
- GenderCodeType - S (0/1) |
Describes the gender of a person. [BusinessRule(s): Values are represented in accordance with ISO 5218. Those values are: 0 = None; 1 = Male; 2 = Female; 9 = None Specified ] |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/
AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ |
- DisabilityInfoType - S (0/*) |
Contains information about a person's physical or psychological impairment. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- xsd:language - S (0/*) |
The
language in which the assessment is available or was taken. |
|
|
/
AssessmentOrderRequest/ |
- xsd:language - S (0/*) |
The language in which results are available. |
|
|
Global types |
ContentModel* |
Definition |
|
/ |
xml:lang
- - |
Globally scoped data type. See element or attribute declaration for definition. |

|
Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.] |
ContentModel* |
Definition
|
|
/ |
- AssessmentOrderAcknowledgementType - (1/1) |
Container for AssessmentOrderAcknowledgment schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to acknowledge an assessment request. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A value that uniquely identifies
a client for the 3rd party vendor (assessor). It is up to the vendor to
provide the client its identifier. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
- EntityIdType - S (0/1) |
A unique identifier for the provider.
|
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
- EntityIdType - S (0/1) |
A unique identifier supplied by
the assessment provider that will allow the client to know how to request
updates. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A unique identifier, for the
client, to identify the order. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
xsd:extension base: ContactMethodType |
The way to access the Assessment, including the contact method and login information. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/
AccessPoint/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/1) |
Describes the contextual
information relating to a specific element. Context definition: Instructions
for the subject to access the assessment via this access point. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/
AccessPoint/ |
validTo – LocalDateType - Optional validFrom – LocalDateType - Optional Token - xsd:string
- S (0/1) |
The login information used to access the assessment. Optional “validTo” and “validFrom” attributes are available to communicate the period during which the login credential is valid. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/
AccessPoint/ Login/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/1) |
A authentication credential other than or in addition to a user name and password. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/
AccessPoint/ Login/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/1) |
The user name a person (subject)
uses to access a web-based tool or application. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/
AccessPoint/ Login/ |
- xsd:string - S (0/1) |
A password. |
|
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ |
- AssessmentStatusType - S (1/1) |
Container for information relating to the status of the assessment. |

|
Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.] |
ContentModel* |
Definition |
|
/ |
- AssessmentResultType - (1/1) |
Container for AssessmentResult schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to convey information on the results of the assessment. |
|
/
AssessmentResult/ |
- EntityIdType - S (1/1) |
A value
that uniquely identifies a client for the 3rd party vendor (assessor). It is
up to the vendor to provide the client its identifier. |
|
/
AssessmentResult/ |
- EntityIdType - S (0/1) |
|