Internal talent marketplace implementation for a software testing company

Solution

Itransition implemented Talenteer, a comprehensive AI-powered internal talent marketplace, providing an all-around view of the internal talent pool. Talenteer has two implementation options: it can be implemented and, if necessary, customized by Itransition or configured by the customer. a1qa chose the first option as it was faster and easier to trust an IT services provider experienced in HR solutions implementation.

We analyzed the specifics of the customer’s business processes and divided the project into several phases. Itransition’s team started with Talenteer deployment and integration and then moved on to customization. We also ensured successful user adoption and provided continuous platform support.

Deployment & integration

Our team began by gathering requirements and analyzing the customer’s existing recruiting and staffing processes. We provided the customer with a data sample to fill in with a1qa’s talent data.

In two weeks, Itransition team:

1. Deployed Talenteer’s out-of-the-box version in the customer’s infrastructure
2. Integrated Talenteer with the customer’s HRM system
3. Synchronized project data

Out of the box, Talenteer enables managers to oversee employee capacity, create new opportunities, and fill them in with in-house specialists. The customer’s organizational structure includes managers running projects and a staffing committee responsible for assigning specialists to opportunities. As the staffing committee role is crucial for a1qa’s staffing process, we added it to Talenteer’s flow. The staffing committee functionality includes managing company opportunities, including:

• Reviewing all open opportunities
• Creating, editing, and closing all opportunities
• Responding to applications for all opportunities
• Reviewing all applications for opportunities and all responses to them
• Accessing all employee profile data

With Talenteer, a1qa’s staffing committee members don’t have to search for talent data to find perfect candidates for internal opportunities. The new solution provides them with all the needed information, so all they have to do is make the final decision.

To protect sensitive employee data, our team added the functionality of internal comments for the staffing committee. The members of the staffing committee can leave comments with reasons why certain employees were reassigned from one project to another, without disclosing this information to the entire company. Other members of the staffing committee can view these comments.

a1qa’s managers can create and edit opportunities originating from their departments. They can also track talent data related to their departments and view the profiles of all employees. With Talenteer, a1qa got visibility into applications for opportunities and responses to them.

Itransition’s team also deployed functionality for employees, enabling them to:

• Overview all available opportunities in the company and respond to them
• Manage their own applications
• Find ways for professional growth

Employees can update their skills and expertise in different domains within the My profile module. We adapted this module to the company’s roles and the specifics of the staffing process.

Solution customization

Our experts customized the opportunity creation form to align it with the customer’s staffing processes by adding specific fields, such as Interview needed (yes/no) and Commitment duration. We also changed opportunity types from Talenteer’s standard project/position to new sale/upsale/rotation according to the terminology and processes the customer uses. The opportunity types stand for:

• New sale - request for additional work for a new a1qa client
• Upsale - request for additional work for any client, except for new ones
• Rotation - request for replacing one talent with another

In addition, during this phase, Itransition set up AI matching in line with the criteria relevant to the a1qa business. Talenteer has a built-in dataset of skills for different domains and categories. Together with a1qa, we held a data scoping session, combining the customer’s data with Talenteer’s to get the dataset relevant for a1qa. Talenteer’s AI matching is based on different criteria, for example, location, qualification level, skills, current workload, etc. For a1qa, we updated the Talenteer’s datasets for:

• Job positions
• Skills
• Qualification levels

Alongside the solution’s deployment and customization, we gathered user feedback that gave us product improvement ideas. For instance, in some cases, it would be better to reopen opportunities instead of creating new ones because it would interfere with the company's staffing statistics.

Each company has different metrics they track and add to statistics. So we added the option of reopening opportunities for a1qa and updated Talenteer with this functionality. In addition, we added statistics updates to Talenteer’s development backlog.

User adoption & support

To ensure a positive user experience, we provided the customer with a detailed user guide and conducted two solution demos. First, we demonstrated Talenteer’s functionality to a1qa’s managers as soon as it was deployed to gather immediate feedback and make sure the solution fits into the company’s management processes. We conducted the second demo for all employees to help them get acquainted with Talenteer and its features. We held an open discussion answering questions and welcoming all the feedback. Each demo can be viewed on demand by employees who couldn’t attend the live session.

Upon the solution’s implementation, our team organized user acceptance testing (UAT) to confirm that the customer’s employees find Talenteer convenient and easy to use. We created a chat to address any questions that could occur and provide instant user support online. Upon getting the results of UAT, our team updated the user guide based on all the feedback.

Users can send their comments and thoughts on the solution to the product development team via Talenteer’s feedback form. We gather all the comments to make sure we can further enhance and adapt the solution to the customer’s needs, as well as evolve the product in general.

Team

Itransition’s team included:

• A customer success manager
• An implementation consultant
• A product owner
• Two developers
• A testing specialist

Since Talenteer was a completely new solution for the customer’s employees, we needed to ensure its successful implementation and user adoption. To achieve that, Itransition assigned a dedicated customer success manager to the project. They had an in-depth knowledge of our customer’s journey and facilitated communication between all parties to make sure end users were happy with their experience. The customer success manager navigated a1qa through the Talenteer implementation and customization, helping the customer to avoid any potential challenges on the way.

Customer lever	Implementation team level	User adoption level
Covering high-level project issues Conveying the customer’s business interests to the implementation team Serving as a single point of accountability Always available to meet the customer’s stakeholders, discuss any questions, and advocate their interests further	Ensuring Itransition’s experts had all the necessary access and data to work with Preventing any internal roadblocks Monitoring project performance Making sure the team is in sync with the customer’s requirements and feedback Helping prioritize product backlog based on user feedback	Continuously monitoring the overall user adoption process Managing user guides and training materials and keeping track of their updates Analyzing user feedback and assessing the level of user satisfaction, ensuring end users are happy with the new solution Monitoring user feedback upon the implementation completion, always ready to provide user support

Our product owner consolidated and analyzed customer feedback regarding the solution’s enhancement. Further on, some of the improvement ideas were added to Talenteer’s backlog, like the option of reopening opportunities.

As for Itransition’s implementation consultant, their role was to guide the team throughout Talenteer deployment, ensuring implementation readiness and providing hands-on recommendations. They oversaw the deployment and data migration processes, making sure they went smoothly. The implementation consultant also provided post-implementation support and guidance, helping the customer properly integrate the new solution into their workflows.