The process begins with the identification and approval of a new resource requirement. The hiring manager together with the employer's HR staff review the knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs) and competencies associated with the new position(s). On the basis of that analysis, the HR staff may want to research and identify assessments relevant to the selection of candidates.

The HR professional logs into the employer's hosted applicant tracking system, which is integrated with a number of assessment service providers via HR-XML-based interfaces. The HR professional fashions a query against one provider's catalog of assessments based on the competencies required for the position.

The recruiting system communicates catalog queries using HR-XML's GetAssessmentCatalog BOD. The ShowAssessmentCatalog that is returned includes assessment packages matching the query.

After reading, comparing options, and discussing them with one of the assessment provider's specialists, the HR professional choses a suitable assessment and uses the associated PackageID to preconfigure the assessment within the position's hiring workflow.

The HR professional posts the job. Candidates begin to submit their applications through the recruiting system's employment portal and integrations with job boards.

After weeding out candidates that do not meet the basic position qualifications and conducting telephone screening interviews, the hiring manager advances qualified candidates to the level in the hiring workflow where assessments are ordered.

The particular assessment that was ordered requires proctoring and needs to be scheduled at a third-party test center. Because the assessment provider will take care of scheduling with the candidate, the assessment order includes the candidate's full contact information.

The recruiting system communicates orders to the assessment provider using the ProcessAssessmentOrder BOD. The assessment system responds with an AcknowledgeAssessmentOrder BOD.

A few days have passed. The hiring manager is eager to fill the opening and logs into the recruiting system to obtain a status on the assessment ordered for a particular candidate. AssessmentStatus is a property of the noun AssessmentReport. The recruiting system sends a GetAssessmentReport referencing the order ID that was returned within the AcknowledgeAssessmentOrder. The ShowAssessmentReport returned from the status inquiry shows a status of "Scheduled" - meaning that a test appointment has been made, but the candidate has not yet tested.

The candidate keeps his/her appointment at the testing center and takes the test, the results of which are communicated back to the assessment provider (this interaction is not shown in the above diagram and is assumed to be "out of channel," but could conceivably be accomplished using the NotifyAssessmentResult BOD).

The assessment provider receives the "raw" test results from the testing center and applies a scoring algorithim to calculate the final results. The test is automatically scored, but then reviewed by a staff pyschologist before it is released to the client. (Note that this exchange is not depictedin the above diagram, but could be handled using the NotifyAssessmentReport BOD).

Thus far, the data exchange has been accomplished by the recruiting system making calls to web services hosted by the assessment provider. However, to provide the final assessment result, the assessment company calls a web service hosted by the recruiting system when it sends a NotifyAssessmentReport back to fulfill the order. Alternatively, the recruiting system could poll the assessment system with a GetAssessmentReport to retrieve any report available.