Metrics Interchange

Recommendation, 2007 April 15

Editor:

Chuck Allen, HR-XML Consortium, Inc.

Contributors:

Joanne Fritz, ADP; Scott Mitchell, ePredix Inc.; Kim Bartkus, HR-XML; Paul Kiel, HR-XML; Heather Hartmann, Human Capital Metrics Consortium; Nick Scobbo, Mitre; Bill Kerr, Oracle; Barbara Davison, Saratoga Institute/PriceWaterhouseCoopers; Dave Ingram, The Gallup Organization; Michelle Winston, The Gallup Organization

Abstract

This document describes the simple, yet flexible schema capable of supporting a wide variety of integration scenarios involving the exchange of HR metrics data.

Table of Contents

1 Overview.. 4

1.1 Objective. 4

1.1.1 Domain Issues. 4

1.1.2 Business Reasons. 4

1.1.3 Limitations / Risks. 5

1.2 Design Requirements. 5

1.3 Scope. 5

1.3.1 Major Components. 5

1.3.2 Items Outside of Design Scope. 6

1.4 Terminology. 6

1.4.1 Metrics Reporting Organization. 6

1.4.2 Source Organization. 6

1.4.3 Metrics Consumer 6

1.4.4 Metrics Consolidator 7

1.4.5 Metrics Template. 7

1.4.6 Instance Report 7

1.4.7 Summary Report 7

2 Supported Business Processes. 7

2.1 Metrics Interchange Business Process. 7

2.1.1 Business Process Scenarios. 7

3 Component Schemas and Dependencies. 9

3.1 Use Notes. 9

3.1.1 Organization.xsd. 9

3.1.2 PhysicalLocation.xsd. 10

3.2 Schema Elements Explained. 10

3.2.1 MetricsInterchange. 10

3.2.2 ReportedOrganization. 12

3.2.3 ReportedPerson. 18

3.2.4 DataElement 21

3.2.5 Global Types. 21

4 Implementation Considerations. 23

4.1 Data Privacy. 23

5 Appendix A - Document Version History. 23

6 Appendix B – Related Documents. 24

7 Appendix C – Reference Examples. 24

7.1 Template Requirements. 24

7.1.1 Example 1: Template To Implement Human Capital Metrics Consortium Benchmark Survey. 25

7.1.2 Example 1: Instance Implementing HCMC Template. 29

7.1.3 Example 2: Template To Implement Individual Performance Measures To Validate an Assessment 29

7.1.4 Example 2: Instance To Implement Individual Performance Measures To Validate an Assessment 36

1 Overview

1.1 Objective

The goal of this project is to develop a simple, yet flexible schema capable of supporting a wide variety of integration scenarios involving the exchange of HR metrics data.

1.1.1 Domain Issues

HR management transactions (interviews, hires, enrollments, payroll, terminations, promotions, etc.) result in a variety of source data that can be important for the generation of HR performance measures. The raw transactional data is usually organized or processed before they yield useful information. There are an increasing number of software applications and service providers that aim to discover, organize, and process relevant HR transactional data so that business managers can better understand organizational and individual performance.

Frequently, businesses want to organize their internal data so that they can be compared to benchmarking measures or other normative data. For example, a company might want to examine its employee turnover compared to other organizations within the same industry and / or region as measured by a survey undertaken by a metrics or benchmarking company.

To seamlessly access and compare internal performance data and external measures usually requires the acquisition of data from one or more systems. The HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange Schema enables these types of data exchanges. Because of the wide variety of performance data and integration scenarios, the HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange Schema provides a very generalized, flexible structure that usually would be accompanied with an implementer-defined template. The template would indicate how the schema is applied to the given data and integration scenario. Two of many possible scenarios are illustrated in Appendix C – Reference Examples.

1.1.2 Business Reasons

Solution Providers

The HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange standard will make it easier to automate the acquisition and transfer of HR metrics data between and among a wide variety of HR solution providers.

Example: The HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange standard will make it easier for HR research and benchmarking companies and providers of business intelligence tools to opportunistically partner with each other.

Example: The schema also will be helpful to assessment vendors. Providers of assessment services frequently want to acquire on-the-job performance data so that pre-employment assessment results can be validated as statistically relevant predictors of on-the-job performance. Today, such data is typically extracted from performance management systems on an ad hoc basis or the data is manually compiled and then sent to the assessment company in a proprietary format, such as a spreadsheet.

Employers

Employers have invested considerable sums into business intelligence (BI) tools and into reporting and human capital management solutions aimed at providing insight into organizational and individual performance. To have a basis against which to compare internal performance, many of the same organizations have invested significant amounts to sponsor the work of third-party research and benchmarking organizations. A flexible interchange mechanism for metrics will help employers maximize their return on both of these investments.

Today, internal measures and external benchmarking data are typically integrated using ad hoc or manual processes. For example, an HR manager might manually take data from a BI or HR reporting tool, copy it into paper or web-based survey questionnaires, wait for the next quarterly or annual survey report to be returned, and then perhaps manually integrate or compare the benchmarks against internal numbers.

If BI and HR solutions were well integrated with benchmarking and survey solution providers, little manual integration of data would be required. Data required for a particular survey could be extracted with little manual intervention and sent directly to the benchmarking organization. Likewise, results might be returned and integrated directly within the BI or HR solution so that internal performance could easily be compared against external measures.

1.1.3 Limitations / Risks

The goal of this project is the development of a flexible, generalized schema for the exchange of metrics data. The usefulness of the schema will likely depend on the quality of templates offered by implementing organizations.

1.2 Design Requirements

1.3 Scope

The goal of the project is to develop a format that can be used flexibly to exchange a wide variety of metrics information.

1.3.1 Major Components

The design approach is to use a single schema to define the format for both Instance Reports and Summary Reports (see Section 1.4, Terminology).

1.3.2 Items Outside of Design Scope

· Developing HR measures or benchmarks. Developing measures or benchmarks for HR performance or determining what metrics are relevant to HR performance are activities outside of the scope of this project.

· Metrics reporting that does not involve interchange between organizations or systems. There are many metrics reporting processes that are not dependent on the interchange of metrics data between systems or entities. For example, there are a variety of hosted, ASP-style HR services where the service provider simply processes and compiles transactional data and presents summary metrics reports back to the customer on a web page accessible by a customer login.

· Internal transfers/compilation of source data. For any organization, the source data from which metrics are compiled are likely to reside in multiple data stores (for example, databases underlying HR systems, data warehouses, payroll systems, recruiting systems, etc). There are a growing number of business intelligence tools designed to collect and mine data from disparate sources. It is possible that the HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange standard could be useful in enabling some of these transfers of metrics information from distributed source data. However, this specification was not designed to explicitly support these types of transfers.

· Developing templates or implementation guides for specific series of metrics. This work would generally fall to specific MROs (see Section 1.4, Terminology).

1.4 Terminology

The following definitions are useful in describing the scenarios supported by the HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange specification.

1.4.1 Metrics Reporting Organization

A Metrics Reporting Organization (MRO) is an organization that produces benchmarks, reports, or other normative data from surveys or other research.

1.4.2 Source Organization

A Source Organization is the respondent to an MRO survey or otherwise is the source for data compiled and analyzed by an MRO. The source organization supplies the survey responses or Instance Reports that the MRO compiles and analyzes in preparing its reports.

1.4.3 Metrics Consumer

A Metrics Consumer is an organization that receives, uses, and applies summary metrics information supplied by an MRO or a Metrics Consolidator. A Metrics Consumer in many cases will also be a Source Organization – but this is not always the case.

1.4.4 Metrics Consolidator

A Metrics Consolidator is a role taken by a core HR system, hosted solution, HR service provider, or other software package that analyzes and organizes transactional data according to a Metrics Template to produce Instance Reports. The role of the Metrics Consolidator is to apply Metrics Templates in software and/or service offerings so that data can then be extracted according to that template.

1.4.5 Metrics Template

This is the set of definitions and guidelines that define content and the format of the metrics to be provided. For example, the Human Capital Metrics Consortium - Recruiting Efficiency Ratio consists of a formula and definitions for formula components. A template also should indicate data constraint and validation information. In other words, the template should indicate for each data component the types of data that would be valid. For example, a metric might require the return of only a positive integer, the return of one of several pre-defined enumerated values, or the return of a text string.

1.4.6 Instance Report

The Instance Report refers to uncompiled data that might be submitted in response to an MRO survey or generated as an extract from the system of a Source Organization by a Metrics Consolidator. An Instance Report would usually pertain to a single Source Organization and would have a time period associated with it.

1.4.7 Summary Report

The Summary Report refers to compiled data provided by an MRO or an HR service provider to a Metrics Consumer. A Summary Report usually would reflect the combined results of many source organizations.

2 Supported Business Processes

2.1 Metrics Interchange Business Process

2.1.1 Business Process Scenarios

There is a wide range of scenarios that can be supported by the flexible, generalized metrics interchange schema developed by the HR-XML Consortium. The diagram below depicts a typical scenario:

Example: An employer (source organization) handles its human capital management system needs through a hosted or outsourced HCM solution. In the diagram above, the HCM solution would take the role of the Metrics Consolidator.

As part of the agreement between the HCM solution provider and the employer, the HCM solution provider will provide integrated views of benchmarks produced by the MRO Company. The MRO provides the HCM provider a template, which includes the semantics and format for MRO’s benchmarks. The HCM company builds support for those benchmarks within its system. The HCM solution provides views of client data against the MRO’s benchmarks to allow for comparison, gap analysis, and performance assessment. Periodically (or conceivably on a near-real time basis), the HCM company submits instance snapshots to the MRO company.

The MRO compiles the instance results with those of other participating employers. A summary metrics report is sent back to the HCM company. The employer is then able to log into the hosted HCM solution to see the industry-compiled benchmarks against its own data. The HCM systems provider can then build rich, value-added features that allow the employer to compare, perform gap analysis, and identify opportunities and requirements for corrective action.

3 Component Schemas and Dependencies

The HR-XML Consortium’s Metrics Interchange schema includes directly or indirectly a number of re-usable component schemas. These dependencies are presented in the table below:

Role	Name
Include	IdentifierTypes.xsd
Include	Organization.xsd
Include	PhysicalLocation.xsd
Indirect	ContactMethod.xsd
Indirect	DateTimeDataTypes.xsd
Indirect	EntityIdType.xsd
Indirect	ISOUtilities.xsd
Indirect	OnlineAddress.xsd
Indirect	PersonName.xsd
Indirect	PostalAddress.xsd
Indirect	TaxonomyTypes.xsd
Indirect	TelcomNumber.xsd
Indirect	UserArea.xsd
Indirect	WorkSite.xsd
Indirect	xml.xsd (maintained by W3C.org)
Indirect	xStringPatternExtensionType.xsd

For detailed information on the above-referenced schemas, see the associated documentation (Appendix B – Related Documents).

3.1 Use Notes

3.1.1 Organization.xsd

The Metrics Interchange Schema uses entire the OrganizationType within its PrincipalRespondentOrganization component. The PrincipalRespondentOrganization component typically would be a client of an MRO (the survey or research company). OrganizationType allows for a very comprehensive description of an Organization. For new clients, the OrganizationType provides a way to pass a complete set of “set-up information,” including tax and legal identifiers, contact information, organizational structure and relationship information, worksite locations, etc. In the case of existing clients that are known and set up on the MRO’s system, the OrganizationType is sufficiently flexible so that just an OrganizationId could be transferred within PrincipalRespondentOrganization.

3.1.2 PhysicalLocation.xsd

PhysicalLocation.xsd provides comprehensive and flexible options for identifying and describing a physical location. The Metrics Interchange schema uses a single type (LocationAreaType) from the PhysicalLocation schema.

Location information is commonly used to classify or qualify other survey or metrics data. The LocationAreaType is a flexible type that can be used to pass information identifying a country, state or province, municipality, or privately defined regions, such as “South Eastern Sales Territory”. LocationAreaType is available within the Metrics Interchange schema’s GeographicalScope component.

3.2 Schema Elements Explained

3.2.1 MetricsInterchange

Elements and Attributes [Global types listed alphabetically in following table.]	ContentModel* Data type Occurrence: Sequence \| Choice \| All (minOccurs/maxOccurs) Attributes	Definition
/ MetricsInterchange	- MetricsInterchangeType - (1/1)	HR-XML Consortium's Metrics Interchange schema. The schema provides a flexible means for the exchange of metrics data and information about the organization or person to which metrics data pertain.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportingPeriod	- ReportingPeriodType - S (1/1)	The period of time for the data reported.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportingPeriod/ StartDate	- LocalDateType - S (0/1)	Contains the (inclusive) date, period, or interval the event becomes active or begins. [BusinessRule(s): This date is inclusive. Dates are represented in accordance with ISO 8601. ]
/ MetricsInterchang e/ ReportingPeriod/ EndDate	- LocalDateType - S (0/1)	Contains the (inclusive) date, period, or interval the event becomes inactive or ends. [BusinessRule(s): This date is inclusive. Dates are represented in accordance with ISO 8601.]
/ MetricsInterchang e/ ReportDescription	Name - xsd:string - S (0/1) Description - xsd:string - S (0/1)	Contains the name and description of the particular report or metrics compilation.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportDescription/ Name	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	A descriptive identifier within the given context. [BusinessRule(s): If referencing a person, use person name. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportDescription/ Description	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a specific element.
/ MetricsInterchange/ PrincipalRespondentOrganization	Organization - [see include/import] - S (1/1) AdditionalData - MetricsAdditionalDataType - S (0/*)	Information about the organization that is providing the data. [BusinessRule(s): A PrincipalRespondentOrganization would typically be the client of the organization receiving the data or otherwise a respondent to a survey or request for data. The PrincipalRespondentOrganization may or may not be the organization to which the metrics pertain. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ PrincipalRespondentOrganization/ AdditionalData	- MetricsAdditionalDataType - S (0/*)	Allows trading partner specific structured information or extensions.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics	- ReportedMetricsType - S (0/*)	Contains metrics data with respect to one or more organizations or persons.

3.2.2 ReportedOrganization

/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization	OrganizationName - xsd:string - S (0/1) OrganizationId - EntityIdType - S (0/1) RelatedReportedOrganization - RelatedReportedOrganizationType - S (0/1) IsRespondentOrganization - xsd:string - C (1/1) RelationshipToRespondent - xsd:string - C (1/1) ContactInfo - OrganizationContactType - S (0/) OrganizationDescriptors - xsd:string - S (1/1) ReportingData - ReportingDataType - S (1/)	An organization about which data is reported.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationName	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	The name by which an organization or enterprise is known as established under the laws of a country, state, province or ruling governmental body for the purpose of conducting business transactions.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	Unique identifier for the organization. It may be an internal identifier assigned by the sender.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ RelatedReportedOrganization	- RelatedReportedOrganizationType - S (0/1)	Contains information identifying another reported organization that is related (For example, a parent, subsidiary, or division of a reported organization). [Synonym(s): RelatedOrganization, RelatedOrganizationlUnit ] [Example(s): ACME is the responsible organization; Oxford is related to ACME; Maddock is related to Oxford. This field could be Oxford or Maddock based on the transaction. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ RelatedReportedOrganization/ OrganizationName	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	The name by which an organization or enterprise is known as established under the laws of a country, state, province or ruling governmental body for the purpose of conducting business transactions.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ RelatedReportedOrganization/ OrganizationId	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	Unique identifier for the organization. It may be an internal identifier assigned by the sender.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ IsRespondentOrganization	- xsd:string - C (1/1)	An indicator showing that the reported organization is identical to the responsible organization. [BusinessRule(s): The Metrics Interchange schema provides a choice between IsRespondentOrganization (with a fixed value of "true") and RelationshipToRespondent. The latter is used to describe the relationship of the ReportedOrganization to the PrincipalRespondentOrganization in cases where the two are not identical. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ RelationshipToRespondent	- xsd:string - C (1/1)	Specifies a relationship between a ReportedOrganization and the PrincipalRespondent organization where those organizations are not the same.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ ContactInfo	- OrganizationContactType - S (0/*)	Contains information to contact a person or entity. [Example(s): Person Name, Organization Name, Contact Method ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors	GeographicalScope - [complexType] - S (0/1) OrganizationSize - xsd:string - S (0/1) IndustryCode - [see include/import] - S (0/) DataElement - DataElementType - S (0/)	Contains a contextual subset of descriptive information about an organization.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ GeographicalScope	- LocationAreaType - S (0/1)	Identifies the relevant geographical area.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ OrganizationSize	Headcount - xsd:string - S (0/1) FiscalSize - xsd:string - S (0/*)	Contains information about the size of the organization in terms of total number of employees or in terms of a fiscal measure, such as annual revenue.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ OrganizationSize/ Headcount	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	The number of persons working on a full or part-time basis in some capacity by a legally operating organization or enterprise. [BusinessRule(s): The inclusion of contract workers, volunteers, interns and alternative arrangements for workers is determined by trading partner agreement. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ OrganizationSize/ FiscalSize	xsd:extension base: xsd:string type - xsd:string -	A financial measure of the size of an organization. [BusinessRule(s): A type attribute is available to specify the particular financial measure used. ] [Example(s): For example, "Annual Revenue," "Total Assets," "Net Revenue," etc. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ OrganizationSize/ FiscalSize/ type	- xsd:string -	Further defines the associated element in the context provided. [BusinessRule(s): Additional values are permitted if preceded by an x: ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ DataElement	- DataElementType - S (0/*)	A flexible structure for the capture of a specific metric, demographic value, organizational descriptor, or other reported value. [BusinessRule(s): Functions much like a name-value pair, with the name of the particular metric, demographic, or descriptor going on the "type" attribute of data element and the value going within the appropriate value field. ]
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ DataElement/ Id	- EntityIdType - S (0/1)	A unique identifier used to reference the entity. The Id is associated with the higher level element.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ DataElement/ Description	- xsd:string - S (0/1)	Describes the contextual information relating to a specific element.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ DataElement/ MonetaryValue	- MonetaryValueType - C (1/1)	Contains a monetary value.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors/ DataElement/ DataValue	- xsd:string - C (1/1)	A value or label of the associated element.
/ MetricsInterchange/ ReportedMetrics/ ReportedOrganization/ OrganizationDescriptors / DataElement/ DataElementSubType	- DataElementType - S (0/*)	A recursive structure that allows for multi-value, complex metrics or other data to be expressed.