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.

©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 Overview.. 4

1.1 New In This Version. 4

1.2 Objective. 4

1.2.1 Domain Issues. 4

1.2.2 Business Reasons. 5

1.2.3 Terminology. 5

1.3 Design Requirements. 5

1.4 Scope. 6

1.4.1 Items within the Design Scope. 6

1.4.2 Items Outside of Design Scope. 7

2 Supported Business Processes. 8

2.1 Actors. 8

2.2 Recruiting Process. 8

3 Schema Design. 15

3.1 AssessmentOrderRequest 15

3.1.1 Schema diagram.. 15

3.1.2 Element Definitions. 15

3.2 AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement 20

3.2.1 Schema diagram.. 20

3.2.2 Element Definitions. 21

3.3 AssessmentResult 23

3.3.1 Schema diagram.. 23

3.3.2 Element Definitions. 24

3.4 AssessmentStatusRequest 27

3.4.1 Schema diagram.. 27

3.4.2 Element Definitions. 28

3.5 AssessmentCancelRequest 29

3.5.1 Schema diagram.. 29

3.5.2 Element Definitions. 29

4 Implementation Considerations. 30

4.1 Data Privacy. 30

4.2 Laws Governing Consumer/Investigative Reports. 30

4.3 Validity Periods. 30

5 Appendix A - Document Version History. 31

6 Appendix B – Related Documents. 31

7 Appendix C – Grade/Band vs. Score. 32

8 Appendix D – Reference Examples. 34

8.1 Assessment Order Request 34

8.2 Assessment Order Acknowledgement 34

8.3 Assessment Result 35

8.4 Assessment Status Request 38

8.5 Assessment Cancel Request 38

1 Overview

1.1 New In This Version

Added additional enumerations to the “type” attribute of “Score.” This expanded list of types are defined in AssessmentResultEnumTypes within AssessmentResults.xsd. In the prior release, available values were: percentile; raw score; and other. In this release, enumerations are: percentile; raw score; stanine; sten; t-score; z-score; intelligence quotient; number attempted; and other. The type attribute uses the “string-pattern” extension so that other values may be specified if preceded with an “x:”.
Created AssessmentPersonDescriptors, which is located within AssessmentSubject. AssessmentPersonDescriptors follows the data model specified within the HR-XMl Cross Process Object, PersonDescriptors, but it is a subset of that bigger model. AssessmentPersonDescriptors allows for the transfer of demographic data (legal identifiers, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.). This data may be necessary for compliance with equal opportunity regulations (such as in the United States) or may otherwise be necessary to analyze the validity of test instruments.

1.2 Objective

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).

1.2.1 Domain Issues

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.

1.2.2 Business Reasons

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.

1.2.3 Terminology

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.

1.3 Design Requirements

Multiple schemas

The assessment lifecycle was separated into five schemas to allow for:

Ease of use.
Having separate schemas allows for a clear understanding of schema goal and context of use.
Extensibility.
It is envisioned that in the future, those schemas may convey different information. To have separate schemas will allow for extend these schemas.

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.

In a first phase (Assessments version 1.0), schemas aim at supporting the recruiting process and use cases. Very little "assessment content" is exchanged. The data exchanged is mainly limited to that necessary to execute an order between two companies with an existing trading partner arrangement and pre-defined assessments.
Note that competencies were not supported in phase 1.
In subsequent phases, other processes will be supported (catalog query, eLearning, employee evaluation, etc.). Also the assessment content will be identified, including support for competencies.

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.

1.4 Scope

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.

1.4.1 Items within the Design Scope

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.

1.4.2 Items Outside of Design Scope

Outside of the design scope of the Assessment Order specification is the transmission of:

· Question sets or the content of assessment instruments.

Unscored or un-compiled assessment results.
Detailed competency information.

· 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.

2 Supported Business Processes

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:

Pre-employment Assessment
Employment Screening
Professional and Managerial Selection
Personality and Personal Skills Assessment
Technical Skills

· Employee evaluation. Regular employees are evaluated for compensation, promotion planning, training estimates or other purposes. This includes, but is not limited to:

Self Development
360° Multi-Rater Feedback
Team and Organizational Development
Organizational Surveys

2.1 Actors

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.

2.2 Recruiting Process

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 client first requests an assessment to an assessment provider. A candidate/employee is also involved in this use case as the individual that will take the assessment.
The client may cancel a request at any time. The third party vendor must then cancel any pending assessment.
The client may query the third party vendor at any moment to know the current status of the assessment. A list of possible status can be found in the Assessment life cycle diagram (see life cycle)
Note: On a technical perspective, it has been identified this use case as a perfect candidate for being developed as web service.

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).

Use Case - Assess a subject

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.

Use Case - Cancel an Assessment

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.

Use Case - Query Assessment Status

The following diagram details the typical scenario of a customer querying an assessment, and the subsequent activities.

Figure 5 - Query Assessment Status

Lifecycle

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.

3 Schema Design

3.1 AssessmentOrderRequest

3.1.1 Schema diagram

3.1.2 Element Definitions

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ AssessmentOrderRequest	- AssessmentOrderRequestType - (1/1)	Container for AssessmentOrderRequest schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to initiate an assessment request.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ ClientId	- 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. [BusinessRule(s): The client id is mandatory for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ PackageId	- 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/ ProviderId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier for the provider. [BusinessRule(s): The provider id should be filled for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ ComparisonGroupId	- EntityIdType - S (0/*)	Indicates the group(s) this assessment should be included in when comparing assessment results. [BusinessRule(s): The Client defines this field. ] [Example(s): In recruiting this could be a Job Requisition identifier. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ ClientOrderId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier, for the client, to identify the order. [BusinessRule(s): There can be multiple order id for one request, I.e. PO #, department. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentRequester	- xsd:string - S (1/1)	The individual that makes the request for the assessment.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentSubject	SubjectId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) PersonName - [see include/import] - S (0/1) ContactMethod - ContactMethodType - S (0/*)	The person who will be the subject of the assessment.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentSubject/ SubjectId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier for the person (subject) taking the assessment . [BusinessRule(s): This is assigned by the customer. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentSubject/ ContactMethod	- ContactMethodType - S (0/*)	Defines the methods to contact a person or organizations. [Example(s): Postal Address, E-mail, Mobile Number, Fax Number, Business Telephone Number, Business Mobile Number ]

/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors	- AssessmentPersonDescriptorsType - S (0/1)	A set of demographic characteristics collected for purposes of test analysis or government compliance.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers	- AssessmentLegalIdentifiersType - S (0/1)	Legal identifiers for a person. [Example(s): SSN, SIN, Drivers license.]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ PersonLegalId	- 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. [Example(s): CPF (Brazil), Social Security Number (US) ] A unique government or other legal identifier for a person.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ MilitaryStatus	xsd:extension base: xsd:string type - xsd:string -	Describes whether a person’s is currently a member of the military and other information regarding military status.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ LegalIdentifiers/ MilitaryStatus/ type	- xsd:string -	Further defines the associated element in the context provided.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors	- AssessmentDemographicDescriptorsType - S (0/1)	A collection of demographic descriptors for a person.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ Race	- xsd:string - S (0/*)	Describes the race of the person.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ Ethnicity	- xsd:string - S (0/*)	The ethnicity of the person.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ Nationality	- xsd:string - S (0/*)	The person's status for belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization. [BusinessRule(s): A participant can have multiple nationalities or no nationality specified. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ DemographicDescriptors/ PrimaryLanguage	- LanguageCodeType - S (0/*)	A person’s primary or preferred language.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors	- AssessmentBiologicalDescriptorsType - S (0/1)	A collection of biological descriptors for a person.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ DateOfBirth	- xsd:date - C (0/1)	A person's birth date. [BusinessRule(s): This date is inclusive. Dates are represented in accordance with ISO 8601. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ MonthDayOfBirth	- 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/ Age	AgeNumeric - xsd:nonNegativeInteger - C (1/1) AgeBand - [complexType] - C (1/1)	The age of a person, specified in years. The age of a person, specified in years.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ Age/ AgeNumeric	- xsd:nonNegativeInteger - C (1/1)	A person’s age in years.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ Age/ AgeBand		A designated band in which the person’s age falls. [Example(s): 20 - 30; 31 – 40; 41-50, etc. ]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentPersonDescriptors/ BiologicalDescriptors/ GenderCode	- 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/ DisabilityInfo	- DisabilityInfoType - S (0/*)	Contains information about a person's physical or psychological impairment.
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ AssessmentLanguage	- xsd:language - S (0/*)	The language in which the assessment is available or was taken. [BusinessRule(s): Available languages might be obtained from AssessmentLanguage within AssessmentCatalog.]
/ AssessmentOrderRequest/ ResultLanguage	- xsd:language - S (0/*)	The language in which results are available.

Global types (alphabetically listed)	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ [AssessmentOrderRequestType]	xml:lang - - ClientId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) PackageId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) ProviderId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) ComparisonGroupId - EntityIdType - S (0/) ClientOrderId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) AssessmentRequester - xsd:string - S (1/1) AssessmentSubject - [complexType] - S (1/1) AssessmentLanguage - xsd:language - S (0/) ResultLanguage - xsd:language - S (0/*) UserArea - [see include/import] - S (0/1)	Globally scoped data type. See element or attribute declaration for definition.

3.2 AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement

3.2.1 Schema diagram

3.2.2 Element Definitions

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement	- AssessmentOrderAcknowledgementType - (1/1)	Container for AssessmentOrderAcknowledgment schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to acknowledge an assessment request.
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ ClientId	- 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. [BusinessRule(s): The client id is mandatory for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor. ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ ProviderId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier for the provider. [BusinessRule(s): Assessment: The provider id should be filled for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ ReceiptId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier supplied by the assessment provider that will allow the client to know how to request updates. [BusinessRule(s): This Id is to support a business process where the provider is requested to provide an identifier. This field may be considered by trading partners at implementation time. ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ ClientOrderId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier, for the client, to identify the order. [BusinessRule(s): There can be multiple order id for one request, I.e. PO #, department. ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AccessPoint	xsd:extension base: ContactMethodType Description - xsd:string - S (0/1) Login - [complexType] - S (0/1)	The way to access the Assessment, including the contact method and login information.
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AccessPoint/ Description	- 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. [Example(s): Description defining an Organization's mission or purpose. Description of stock plan. Description of payment terms and conditions. ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AccessPoint/ Login	validTo – LocalDateType - Optional validFrom – LocalDateType - Optional Token - xsd:string - S (0/1) UserName - xsd:string - S (0/1) Password - 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/ Token	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	A authentication credential other than or in addition to a user name and password.
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AccessPoint/ Login/ UserName	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	The user name a person (subject) uses to access a web-based tool or application. [Example(s): User name to take an assessment. ]
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AccessPoint/ Login/ Password	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	A password.
/ AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement/ AssessmentStatus	- AssessmentStatusType - S (1/1)	Container for information relating to the status of the assessment.

3.3 AssessmentResult

3.3.1 Schema diagram

3.3.2 Element Definitions

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ AssessmentResult	- AssessmentResultType - (1/1)	Container for AssessmentResult schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to convey information on the results of the assessment.
/ AssessmentResult/ ClientId	- 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. [BusinessRule(s): The client id is mandatory for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ ProviderId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier for the provider. [BusinessRule(s): The provider id should be filled for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor ]
/ AssessmentResult/ ClientOrderId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier, for the client, to identify the order. [BusinessRule(s): There can be multiple order id for one request, I.e. PO #, department. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ ReceiptId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier supplied by the assessment provider that will allow the client to know how to request updates. [BusinessRule(s): This Id is to support a business process where the provider is requested to provide an identifier. This field may be considered by trading partners at implementation time. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results	- AssessmentSingleResultType - S (0/*)	The information provided as a response to a query, screening, assessment or other investigative request.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ Profile	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Context definition: The name of this set of results. Commonly used to distinguish between multiple Results elements, for example to indicate the normative group applied to the scoring.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult	- AssessmentResultsType - S (0/1)	A summary or "high-level" view of the result of the assessment.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ ScoreId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Passed	- xsd:boolean - S (0/1)	A Boolean expression that denotes whether the subject passed or failed the assessment.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Description	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a specific element. Context definition: The label of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ CompetencyAssessed	- CompetencyReferenceType - S (0/1)	References the competencies the assessment is intended to evaluate. [BusinessRule(s): This approach provides complete decoupling from the Competencies working group in the Assessments Core Schemas. The extension mechanism is used to hold the competencies associated with the Assessment Package. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Score	xsd:extension base: xsd:float type - AssessmentResultTypes - required	The raw value of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Score/ type	- AssessmentResultTypes -	Enumerated values are: percentile; raw score; stanine; sten; t-score; z-score; intelligence quotient; number attempted; and other. Other values are permitted if preceded by “x:”.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Scale	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	A textual label to indicate the range of possible values for this score. [Example(s): 0-100 for a percentage scale. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Band	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Provides for categorizing or grouping of results or other information. This is not a hierarchical grouping. [Example(s): Beginner, Intermediate and Expert could be three different bands. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ OverallResult/ Comments	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a group of elements. Context definition: A textual description that provides the opinion of the assessment vendor. It may be based on criteria that have been defined between the client and the vendor.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult	- AssessmentResultsType - S (0/*)	The detailed results for the assessment requested.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ ScoreId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Passed	- xsd:boolean - S (0/1)	A Boolean expression that denotes whether the subject passed or failed the assessment.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Description	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a specific element. Context definition: The label of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ CompetencyAssessed	- CompetencyReferenceType - S (0/1)	References the competencies the assessment is intended to evaluate. [BusinessRule(s): This approach provides complete decoupling from the Competencies working group in the Assessments Core Schemas. The extension mechanism is used to hold the competencies associated with the Assessment Package. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Score	xsd:extension base: xsd:float type - AssessmentResultTypes - required	The raw value of the score.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Score/ type	- AssessmentResultTypes -	Enumerated values are: percentile; raw score; stanine; sten; t-score; z-score; intelligence quotient; number attempted; and other. Other values are permitted if preceded by “x:”.
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Scale	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	A textual label to indicate the range of possible values for this score. [Example(s): 0-100 for a percentage scale. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Band	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Provides for categorizing or grouping of results or other information. This is not a hierarchical grouping. [Example(s): Beginner, Intermediate and Expert could be three different bands. ]
/ AssessmentResult/ Results/ DetailResult/ Comments	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a group of elements. Context definition: A textual description that provides the opinion of the assessment vendor. It may be based on criteria that have been defined between the client and the vendor.
/ AssessmentResult/ AssessmentStatus	- AssessmentStatusType - S (1/1)	Container for information relating to the status of the assessment.
/ AssessmentResult/ AssessmentLanguage	- xsd:language - S (0/1)	The language in which the assessment is available or was taken. [BusinessRule(s): Available languages might be obtained from AssessmentLanguage within AssessmentCatalog. ]

Global types (alphabetically listed)	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ [AssessmentResultsType]	ScoreId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) Passed - xsd:boolean - S (0/1) Description - xsd:string - S (0/1) CompetencyAssessed - CompetencyReferenceType - S (0/1) Score - xsd:float - S (0/*) Scale - xsd:string - S (0/1) Band - xsd:string - S (0/1) Comments - xsd:string - S (0/1)	Globally scoped data type. See element or attribute declaration for definition.
/ [AssessmentResultTypes]	- [Union]: AssessmentScoreEnumTypes, xStringPatternExtensionType	Enumerated values are: percentile; raw score; stanine; sten; t-score; z-score; intelligence quotient; number attempted; and other. Other values are permitted if preceded by “x:”.
/ [AssessmentResultTypeTypes]	xsd:restriction base: xsd:string [Enumerations]: percentile, raw score, other	Globally scoped data type. See element or attribute declaration for definition.
/ [AssessmentSingleResultType]	xml:lang - - optional Profile - xsd:string - S (0/1) SupportingMaterials - [see include/import] - S (0/) OverallResult - AssessmentResultsType - S (0/1) DetailResult - AssessmentResultsType - S (0/)	Globally scoped data type. See element or attribute declaration for definition.

3.4 AssessmentStatusRequest

3.4.1 Schema diagram

3.4.2 Element Definitions

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ AssessmentStatusRequest	- AssessmentRequestType – (1/1) ClientId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) ProviderId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) ClientOrderId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) ReceiptId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) UserArea - [see include/import] - S (0/1	Container for AssessmentStatusRequest schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to request the status of a particular assessment.
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ClientId	- 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. [BusinessRule(s): The client id is mandatory for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor. ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ProviderId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier for the provider. [BusinessRule(s): Assessment: The provider id should be filled for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ClientOrderId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier, for the client, to identify the order. [BusinessRule(s): There can be multiple order id for one request, I.e. PO #, department. ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ReceiptId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier supplied by the assessment provider that will allow the client to know how to request updates. [BusinessRule(s): This Id is to support a business process where the provider is requested to provide an identifier. This field may be considered by trading partners at implementation time. ]

3.5 AssessmentCancelRequest

3.5.1 Schema diagram

3.5.2 Element Definitions

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ AssessmentCancelRequest	- AssessmentRequestType – (1/1) ClientId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) ProviderId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) ClientOrderId - EntityIdType - S (1/1) ReceiptId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) UserArea - [see include/import] - S (0/1	Container for AssessmentCancelRequest schema, which is designed to hold data necessary to cancel a particular assessment.
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ClientId	- 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. [BusinessRule(s): The client id is mandatory for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor. ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ProviderId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier for the provider. [BusinessRule(s): Assessment: The provider id should be filled for all messages going from a customer to an assessment vendor ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ClientOrderId	- EntityIdType - S (1/1)	A unique identifier, for the client, to identify the order. [BusinessRule(s): There can be multiple order id for one request, I.e. PO #, department. ]
/ [AssessmentRequestType]/ ReceiptId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier supplied by the assessment provider that will allow the client to know how to request updates. [BusinessRule(s): This Id is to support a business process where the provider is requested to provide an identifier. This field may be considered by trading partners at implementation time. ]

4 Implementation Considerations

4.1 Data Privacy

Human resources data, by its very nature, is personal data. The laws of many jurisdictions as well as codes of fair information practice require organizations to handle personal data in a way that protects individuals from loss of privacy.

The data exchange specifications developed by the HR-XML Consortium are designed to be useful across many jurisdictions and within a variety of business contexts. It is not feasible for the HR-XML Consortium to develop specific privacy guidance for every jurisdiction or business context in which the Consortium's specifications might be implemented. When implementing data exchanges using the HR-XML Consortium's data definitions (or, for that matter, using any other type of data exchange mechanism), organizations are advised to examine the privacy protections that may be required under applicable law and codes of fair information practice.

For information on protecting personal data, general references include: European Union Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC); the Association Computing Machinery Code of Ethics (1992); Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information (1995 – PIPEDA); and U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Principles and FAQs (2000).

4.2 Laws Governing Consumer/Investigative Reports

Consumer or investigative reports or evaluations (such as those involving an individual’s credit history) are regulated within the United States and within other jurisdictions. The HR-XML Consortium’s Assessment Order specification was not designed to support the ordering of regulated consumer and investigative reports. HR-XML Consortium’s Background Checking specification is better suited for ordering these types of regulated reports.

Implementers of both the HR-XML Consortium’s Assessment Order and Background Checking are strongly advised to review applicable law in the jurisdictions in which they operate and to seek the advice of competent legal counsel.

4.3 Validity Periods

A validity period specifies the period for which assessment results are valid. In practice, a candidate or applicant would not be assessed against a specific AssessmentPackage, AssessmentGroup, or AssessmentItem if he or she has results for that AssessmentPackage, AssessmentGroup, or AssessmentItem that fall within the specified validity period. Once the validity period has expired, the applicant or candidate would be allowed to be reassessed for the particular AssessmentPackage, AssessmentGroup, or AssessmentItem in question.

As mentioned above, validity periods for AssessmentPackageContent exist at three different levels within the schema: AssessmentPackage, AssessmentGroup, and AssessmentItem. This is because assessment vendors need to specify the validity periods at different levels. In some cases, it may be necessary to provide different validity periods for certain AssessmentItems within an AssessmentGroup, or different validity periods for certain AssessmentGroups within an AssessmentPackage.

5 Appendix A - Document Version History

Date	Description
2003-Aug-21	Draft
2003-Aug-26	Added Examples and related documents. Renamed doc to Assessments.doc
2003-Sep-03	Submitted to TSC/CPO for review.
2003-Oct-03	Made following changes based on TSC/CPO review: Renamed OverallScore to OverallResult, ScoreDetail to DetailResult. Replaced userId and password with Login structure. Changed Status enumerations to extensible. Submit for membership review.
2003-Nov	Approved by membership
2004-07-06	AssessmentOrderAcknowledgment and Assessment OrderRequest schema: An optional attribute xml:lang was added to the root element. AssessmentResult schema: · Score element changed from xsd:int to xsd:float. · An optional attribute xml:lang was added to the root element. · ScoreId element was added to the AssessmentsResultsType.
2005-Jan-03	Updated document with enhancements. See overview for details.
2005-Jan-18	Updated based on WG feedback.
2005-Feb-28	Updated diagrams, tables, and examples for AssessmentOrderRequest and AssessmentResult.
2005-Jun-30	CPO approved with minor wording changes.
2006-Feb-28	Approved by consortium
2007-Feb-13	Updated. See New in This Version.

6 Appendix B – Related Documents

Reference		Link
Assessment Order Request Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentOrderRequest.xsd
Assessment Order Acknowledgement Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement.xsd
Assessment Status Request Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentStatusRequest.xsd
Assessment Cancel Request Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentCancelRequest.xsd
Assessment Result Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentResult.xsd
Assessment Types Schema	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentTypes.xsd
Assessment Order Request Example	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentOrderRequest.xml
Assessment Order Acknowledgement Example	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement.xml
Assessment Status Request Example	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentStatusRequest.xml
Assessment Cancel Request Example	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentCancelRequest.xml
Assessment Result Example	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/Assessment/AssessmentResult.xml
Guidelines for ISO Utilities	http://ns.hr-xml.org/2_4/HR-XML-2_4/CPO/GuidelinesForISOUtilities.html

7 Appendix C – Grade/Band vs. Score

The diagram below explains the difference between the score and the grade/band.

Assessment statistical repartition is similar for any “assessable” characteristic. For each characteristic, it has first to be defined where grade/band A starts and finishes.

So, score alone is not enough to rank an assessment subject.

8 Appendix D – Reference Examples

8.1 Assessment Order Request

<IdValue name="ClientCode">OurClient-1342</IdValue>

</ClientId>

</PackageId>

<IdValue>ePredix</IdValue>

</ProviderId>

</ComparisonGroupId>

<IdValue name="Department Name">Administration</IdValue>

</ClientOrderId>

<AssessmentRequester>Romuald Restout</AssessmentRequester>

</SubjectId>

</PersonName>

<Use>business</Use>

<InternetEmailAddress>drew.cox@epredix.com</InternetEmailAddress>

</ContactMethod>

</AssessmentSubject>

</AssessmentOrderRequest>

8.2 Assessment Order Acknowledgement

<IdValue name="ClientCode">OurClient-1342</IdValue>

</ClientId>

<IdValue>ePredix</IdValue>

</ProviderId>

</ReceiptId>

<IdValue name="Department Name">Administration</IdValue>

</ClientOrderId>

<Use>business</Use>

<InternetWebAddress>http://test.vendor.com/start?id=22345354</InternetWebAddress>

<Description>URL for subject to access assessment.</Description>

<Login>

<UserName>subject@client.com</UserName>

</Login>

</AccessPoint>

<Status>Acknowledged</Status>

<Details>The assessment order has been processed. Please have the subject access the provided URL with the specified login credentials.</Details>

</AssessmentStatus>

</AssessmentOrderAcknowledgement>

8.3 Assessment Result

<IdValue name="ClientCode">OurClient-1342</IdValue>

</ClientId>

<IdValue>ePredix</IdValue>

</ProviderId>

<IdValue name="Department Name">Administration</IdValue>

</ClientOrderId>

<Profile>Customer Service</Profile>

</Id>

</EffectiveDate>

<dc:title>Assessment Detailed Narrative Report</dc:title>

<dc:format>text/html</dc:format>

<dc:subject>Robert Jones</dc:subject>

<dc:publisher>ePredix Inc</dc:publisher>

<dc:date>2004-03-08</dc:date>

</ExtendedMetadata>

<InternetWebAddress>https://integrate.epredix.com/hrxml/report/detail?sk=197e23sa</InternetWebAddress>

</ReferenceInfo>

<AccessCredential type="UserName">partner25</AccessCredential>

<Instructions>Request the referenced report from the included URL. Use the supplied username and password credentials.</Instructions>

</AccessInfo>

<UsageRestrictions>ePredix Client confidential. Access restructed to authorized parties only.</UsageRestrictions>

<Comments>The referenced HTML report may be displayed in a frameset.</Comments>

</SupportingMaterials>

<Description>Executive Manager</Description>

</TaxonomyId>

</CompetencyId>

</CompetencyAssessed>

<Comments>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." </Comments>

</OverallResult>

<Description>Education and Work Experience</Description>

</TaxonomyId>

</CompetencyId>

</CompetencyAssessed>

</DetailResult>

<Description>Conscientiousness</Description>

</TaxonomyId>

</CompetencyId>

</CompetencyAssessed>

</DetailResult>

</Results>

<Profile>Operations</Profile>

</Id>

</Id>

</EffectiveDate>

<dc:title>123456789.tif</dc:title>

<dc:format>image/tiff</dc:format>

<dc:creator>Sterling Testing Systems</dc:creator>

<dc:subject>Consent and Disclosure Form for Mark Smith</dc:subject>

<dc:date>2004-05-04</dc:date>

</ExtendedMetadata>

</AttachmentId>

</AttachmentInfo>

<UsageRestrictions>This Consent and Disclosure form is only to be used for the candidate within this transaction</UsageRestrictions>

<Comments>Consent and Disclosure form required for Education Verification</Comments>

</SupportingMaterials>

<Description>Executive Manager</Description>

</TaxonomyId>

</CompetencyId>

</CompetencyAssessed>

</OverallResult>

</Results>

<Status>In Progress</Status>

<Details>Remains: "GAAP Basic Knowledge"</Details>

</AssessmentStatus>

</AssessmentResult>

8.4 Assessment Status Request

<IdValue name="ClientCode">OurClient-1342</IdValue>

</ClientId>

<IdValue>Recruitsoft</IdValue>

</ProviderId>

<IdValue name="Department Name">Administration</IdValue>

</ClientOrderId>

</ReceiptId>

</AssessmentStatusRequest>

8.5 Assessment Cancel Request

<IdValue name="ClientCode">OurClient-1342</IdValue>

</ClientId>

<IdValue>ePredix</IdValue>

</ProviderId>

<IdValue name="Department Name">Administration</IdValue>

</ClientOrderId>

</ReceiptId>

</AssessmentCancelRequest>