Scout's new Intake Automation functionality both enhances and streamlines the Project assignment process. It allows for more automated Project Delegation by ensuring that the Project Request is going to the appropriate Sourcing Manager based on a set of defined rules.

In this article we will cover:

• How to Create Intake Rules
• How Rule Prioritization Works
• How to Manage Intake Rules

How to Create Intake Rules

To begin setting up Intake Automation, a Company Admin will need to first set up what we call Intake Rules. Each Intake Rule is made up of a set of criteria and an assignee. The criteria is based upon all the fields (out-of-box and custom) from your Projects. The assignee is an active user of Sourcing Manager or higher level access. If an Intake Form is submitted and it matches the criteria in your Rule, then it will make the assignee the owner of that Project.

These rules are defined and editable by Company Admins within the Settings page under the Automation section. 

Step 1: Navigate to Intake Routing

First, click Settings to bring you to the Settings page. At the very bottom of the Settings panel select Intake Routing, located within the Automation section:

This will bring you to the Intake Routing page where you can begin creating new Rules for your Company's Intake Automation. 

Step 2: Creating Rules

Click the Create New Rule button:This will create and open a new Rule that you can begin editing.

Step 3: Edit Rules

Click the Edit Rules button to begin selecting the Rule's Filters & Columns. Once you have selected your desired Filters and Columns click the Save button.

As an example, you can see I have selected Project Type:

Once you click the Save button, this will then prompt you to select the specifications for the Rule's criteria fields.

For example, since Project Type is selected for this Rule, the specific Project Type also needs to be selected. Notice that Sourcing Event is selected as the Project Type in this example and Hannah is set as the Sourcing Manager for the Intake Form to route to.   

Note: If an Intake form is submitted and matches the criteria within a Rule, it generates an assignment. This assignment is both automatically added to the company Pipeline and an email notification is sent to the newly assigned User letting them know the details of the Project and a link to view more.

With the Rule we created in our example above, any time a new Intake Request with the Project Type set as "Sourcing Event", it would automatically make an assignment to Hannah and route the Request to her. 

How Prioritization Works

Companies might have many different sets of Rules for Intake assignment. These can have various breakpoints and overlapping sets of criteria that only apply in certain situations. In order to handle this complexity, each Rule is given a rank comparatively to the others in within the Company.

If an Intake Form is submitted, it checks the Rules in order from top to bottom. As soon as a Rule is matched, the search is over and the assignment is generated. 

In a scenario like the above - if an Intake Form was submitted with Estimated Spend equal to $1,000,000 and the location is Europe, it would be sent to Allison due the ranking of the rules. If the Estimated spend was lower than $500,000 and the location is Europe, it would be sent to Dan. The reason for this is because if the Intake form does not meet ALL of the criteria in the first Rule (Estimated Spend is not greater than $500,000), it moves down to the next Rule to see if it matches the criteria until an assignment match is made. 

The important thing to remember when prioritizing Rules is that Intake Routing will always begin by checking the first Rule's criteria before moving down the list of Rules to match the Intake Form with the correct set of criteria. Therefore, your most important Rules or Rule that should take precedence over other Rules, should be placed at the top of the Rule List. 

How to Manage Intake Rules 

With the ever changing workplace, the ability for the Administrator to modify and reorganize their companies Intake Routings is critical to meeting the expectations of the modern workforce.

To Edit Rules:
Each Rule can be edited completely afterwards, including all criteria and assignee. To edit any part of the Rule click Edit next to the Rule you would like to begin editing:

Re-Prioritize Rules:
Each Rule can be reordered using a simple drag and drop interface:

Notification of Broken Rules:
Companies have people coming and going regularly. As you disable former employees or make Stakeholders people with changing responsibilities, you will need to see which Rules need reassignment. These Users won’t be able to own Projects anymore, but that doesn’t mean their routings disappear. We highlight the Rule in red to make it clear what needs be reassigned, and allow the Projects to come in as unassigned (this notifies all Admins of any Project that comes in without assignment).

For example, if Allison is changed from a Sourcing Manager to a Stakeholder license, since she is attached to the above Intake Rule, the Rule will be flagged so that Admins are aware it needs to be update. 

Intake Automation now allows Company's to automate Project Delegation while also ensuring that the process is kept simple and easily manageable for Scout Administrators. With the ability to sort, modify, and re-assign, the Intake process can better handle the needs of a modern service workforce! 

Click here for more information on Intake