Metadata is additional data about your employees that provides information beyond what Awardco has stored in your platform. Awardco’s product offerings have the capability to tailor your recognition programs to exactly what your organization needs; that’s where metadata is extremely useful. While we require specific employee data to be loaded onto your organization’s user file, metadata can be added to the file to further define program parameters and budget access. If your HRIS doesn’t have all the employee metadata you need to effectively run your platform, we have a solution. The Metadata Creator is a tool housed in Admin settings to help you create metadata based on metadata. This concept may seem abstract but this article will break it down for you. We’ll explain the value of this tool, the basic mechanics of creating metadata through the Metadata Creator, and examples of where this tool has been most useful.
- Metadata Creator Value
- General Tool Settings
- Metadata Rules
- Rule Configuration
- Committing & Executing Rules
- Examples
Metadata Creator Value
Uploading employee data is key to running your Awardco platform. Data uploaded on the user file will allow employees to give and receive points for their service anniversary or for a job well done. While we have required and recommended fields to fill out on the user file, metadata, or additional information, can be added to further create program eligibility, budget eligibility, etc.
In creating a recognition program, you might encounter limitations when it comes to establishing access to certain roles and permissions. This could be because HRIS data provided in the user file upload doesn’t provide the sufficient metadata to set the desired parameters. The Metadata Creator allows you to create the metadata you need that isn’t available. In creating rules and conditions based on the employee Id, country code, and other existing metadata, you can configure your platform to exactly what you need. In turn, your programs run exactly to your liking, time is taken off your plate as an admin, and you can effectively carry out a culture of recognition at your organization.
General Tool Settings
To find the Metadata Creator:
- Click the Admin button on the homepage
- Select the Settings tab at the top of the page
- Find and click on Metadata Creator on the left side of the page
The first view of the Metadata Creator tool will give you a list of all metadata fields created, the values that populate in the created metadata column, and the status of the metadata field. If active, the metadata will be available for usage in the platform (budgets program eligibility, etc.) Once the metadata field is created, you’re able access and edit its settings at any time by clicking on the metadata name, values, or status. Selecting the “...” icon to the right of the metadata value provides the option to either Remove the metadata value or Duplicate the value. Once deleted, the metadata ruleset and all metadata created with the ruleset can’t be retrieved. Duplicating a rule can be useful if creating multiple metadata with similar ruleset settings.
Selecting “Add Field” will take you to the page where you begin creating metadata values. Let’s go through each setting:
- Field Name: This is the name that will register as the metadata header on your user file. Just like Employee Id, First Name, and Last Name, this name is a column header with a “#” in front. No need to input the “#” yourself; once you run tests you’ll see that the platform will place a “#” in front of the header for you.
- Status: This toggle allows you to make the rule active. You’ll want to leave the rule as “Inactive” until you have created the rules and ran the execution tests. Once everything is to your liking and working properly, toggle to “Active.”
- Rule Execution: Once you’ve created rules for metadata, you are able to run a test to see if the rule functions as intended. Upon clicking “Run Test” a .csv file labeled “test.csv” will download. Your test metadata will have two asterisks on either side of the Field Name (i.e. **Eligible**.) This feature allows you to run as many tests as you need to achieve the desired rule configurations.
- Manual Execution: If you discover your rulesets are working exactly as intended, you’ve toggled the Metadata status as active, and you’d like the metadata to be made available for immediate usage, select “Execute Rule Manually.” This is useful if you’d like to make your created metadata immediately active without having to wait for your next user file upload. This setting will only work once you’ve committed ruleset changes when creating rules; this will be discussed in the Metadata Rules section of this article.
Metadata Rules
In order to assign metadata values produced by the metadata creator, we’ll need to set rules and logic based on existing information on the user file. If you are familiar with Excel formulas, these rules are essentially if-then statements. You’re able to base rules on Employee Id, Country Code, and any other metadata listed on the user file. Note: you’re not able to create rules based on metadata built in the Metadata Creator.
Each individual value and their accompanying rule conditions are separated into tiles like the one pictured above. If there are multiple values, the Metadata Creator will prioritize values and rule conditions in descending order. The following list will explain what each icon means on the rule tile above.
- This icon allows for dragging the tile towards the top or bottom if there are multiple rule tiles. The Metadata Creator will prioritize the rules in descending order so utilizing this tool with aid with ordering rules.
- The ellipses at the top right of the tile gives you the option to remove or duplicate the value and rule conditions.
- The carrot arrow to the left of “1 Condition” collapses all associated rules and rule groups, and provides a view of only the new value name.
- The ellipses to the right of the first rule condition gives the option to remove or duplicate the role. Additionally, you may turn the rule into a “Rule Group”, which is a concept we’ll explain later on in the article.
- Clicking “Add a rule” will allow you to add a new rule or rule group.
Rule Configuration
Selecting “Add Rule” directs you to a form where you configure the rules. The value entered in the field to the right of “If Match found:” is the value that will appear in your newly created metadata column in an employee’s line of data. For example, if you were trying to determine recipient eligibility for a recognition program, you might want this value to say “Eligible.”
Our first rule condition has two drop down menus: one allows you to select Employee Id, Country Code, and any other existing metadata value on your user file. Note: Metadata created in another rule set cannot be used in another rule set. The second dropdown provides the following options:
- Is
- Is not
- Is empty
- Is not empty
- Contains
- Does not contain
The field to the right of these two dropdown menus provides the entry of your existing information (Employee Id, Country Code, or metadata.) Knowing what these rule components mean allows you to construct a rule condition. We’ll go through an example of each conditional option to illustrate applicable use cases.
Is & Is not
If we wanted to determine eligibility for a recognition program for French employees, we’d create a condition that designates recognition program recipient eligibility for employees in France. This condition could be set as “Where Country Code is FR.”
To ensure eligibility is only kept to French employees, we can create a rule designating ineligibility for all other countries on our user file. In this case, the new Value would read as “Ineligible” and the condition would be configured as “Where Country Code is not FR.”
Note: The options “Is” and “Is not” are both case sensitive. If this is used, be sure to enter the data value exactly as it appears on the user file. Additionally, it’s not necessary to use these conditions together.
Is empty & Is not empty
Many times companies with thousands of employees or seasonal workers don’t have metadata for every single user. To create a metadata tag to identify seasonal workers, we can establish a new Value Name of “Seasonal” and set the condition of “Where Department is empty.” For this condition, no specification of existing data is needed.
Identifying Full-time workers would work similarly. A new Value name could be “Full-time” and the condition could be “Where Department is not empty.” This condition wouldn’t require specifying existing data like the other available rules.
Contains & Does not contain
Creating a Manager to Peer program is a great use of Awardco. Designating program eligibility could be tricky, but we could create metadata based off an existing #Title metadata column. In this example, we’ll create a new value reading “Eligible” and a rule condition stating “Where Title contains Manager.” This would catch any title containing “Manager” and place the “Eligible” value in their line of data on the user file.
Inversely, you can designate ineligibility for the Manager to Peer program by setting the new value as “Ineligible” and the rule condition as “Where Title does not contain Manager.” Any other title not containing “Manager” would have the value “Ineligible” in their line of data.
Selecting this option in the rule condition is a “catch all” solution since this isn’t case sensitive. This is convenient in case there are varying titles relating to casing in your HRIS data.
Rule Grouping
Creating a rule group allows for adding multiple conditions to one rule set. This is helpful for when you want a metadata value to meet multiple criteria. To illustrate rule grouping, below is an example of creating metadata for employees that have direct reports.
Above we have two rule groups: one that requires employee’s job titles to contain “manager” and for the job level to not be “1”, and one that requires the job title to contain either “supervisor” or “team lead." This means the value “True” will be input into the employee’s line of data if they are a manager and aren’t a level 1 job level, or if they’re a Supervisor or Team Lead.
When multiple rules and rule groups are created, dropdown menus appear to the left providing the option of “and” and “or.” “And” means multiple conditions have to be met, while “or” means at least one of the conditions has to apply for the metadata value to register on the user file. This accommodates potential complexities in your organization’s employee data or recognition programs. This power tool is able to meet your needs but, for best practices, we recommend no more than 4 conditions to a value.
Committing & Executing Rules
Once you’re done configuring your rules, select “Commit All Changes.” As the notice states above, you are able to run tests with uncommitted changes. Clicking “Discard All Changes” will eliminate all created rules.
You’re able to test your newly created metadata data before making it active on your user file by clicking “Run Test.” This option downloads a sample .csv file to show how the created rules would appear on a live user file import. View the .csv and assess if all rules are configured correctly. The sample metadata column header will be surrounded by two asterisks on each side of the title. If you find errors, make adjustments to the rules, commit the changes, and run the test again. Once the rules work to your liking, toggle the status as “Active.”
Now that your metadata is active, it’s free to be used throughout the platform in recognition, earn, and automated programs. Please be mindful when you are changing and deleting rules after implementing created metadata. Deleting a rule set will immediately delete the metadata associated with that rule set. Setting a rule to “Inactive” status will delete the metadata associated with that rule set the next time the import is run or the rule set is executed. Both of these scenarios can potentially cause disruptions throughout your platform. Please consult with your Client Success Manager before making alterations.
Examples
Now, we’ll run through some applicable examples of metadata created using the Metadata Creator. Each example will run through field creation, condition setup, rule execution, and how the created metadata can be implemented in a program.
Eligibility for Monetary Programs
A company is developing a monetary recognition program for full-time US employees. They want to use their existing employee data (Country Code and #Job Group) to designate program eligibility in the recognition program settings. After selecting “Add Field” on the Metadata Creator page, they set the Field Name, or Metadata header name, as “Eligibility for Monetary Programs.”
They then added the 2 values: “False” and “True.” For the “False” rule set, a rule group was created to read “Where Job Group is Part-time or Job Group is Intern” and a separate rule condition that says “or Country Code is not US.” For the value “True”, the rule set has two conditions built as “Where Job Group is Full-time and Country Code is US.”
“Commit All Changes” is selected and a test is run. The rules reflect correctly in the test .csv file.
The status is toggled to Active and is then “Execute Rule Manually” is selected. The rule was run manually on the user file and will continue to run on every user file upload. Now, program Nominator and Recipient eligibility can be set using the newly created metadata, and Full-time employees in the US have full utilization of the program.
Birthday Automation Opt Out
A small group of employees at a company would prefer to not be recognized for their birthday. To exclude them from the birthday automation they are able utilize the employee Id and country code fields in the user file to specify who is and isn’t to receive a birthday recognition. After selecting “Add Field” on the Metadata Creator page, they set the Field Name, or Metadata header name, as “Birthday Recipients.”
They then added the 2 values: “Opt In” and “Opt Out.” For the “Opt Out” rule set, a rule condition was created to read “Where Employee Id is 54890.” A few more similar conditions were added with different employee Ids of those employees who don’t want a birthday recognition with the condition “or.” For the value “Opt In”, the rule set has seven conditions built as “Where Country Code is CA”, “Where Country Code is CN”, “Where Country Code is DE”, “Where Country Code is FR”, “Where Country Code is GB”, “Where Country Code is JP”, and “Where Country Code is US.”
“Commit All Changes” is selected and a test is run. The rules reflect correctly in the test .csv file.
The status is toggled to Active and is then “Execute Rule Manually” is selected. The rule was run manually on the user file and will continue to run on every user file upload. Now, the newly created metadata can be utilized on the birthday automation, and the small group of employees who wish to not be recognized for their birthday will be excluded.
Note: For this metadata to be successful, the “Opt Out” rule set will need to be edited each time a new employee wants to opt out of birthday recognitions. Add the condition, commit the changes, run a test to ensure the employee’s metadata updates, and, optionally, execute the rule.
If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.