Additional factors in PCS source mapping process
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to outline the additional factors that affects Eightfold’s source mapping process.
Audience
This guide is intended for the Recruitment marketing/advertising team and Eightfold’s solution architects.
Basics
After the ‘source tracking value’ is tracked on PCS, Eightfold PCS transforms the ‘source tracking value’ into a known list of values that your ATS can interpret (‘source codes’) using the ‘Application source mapping’ config (referrer_src_map), and thus enabling the ATS to receive the right source attribution for each application.
referrer_src_map
Below is the default mapping we use, and you can customize it to suit your source tracking and ATS set up in the config. Read Configure referer_src_map for setup details.
{
'linkedin': 'LinkedIn',
'indeed': 'Indeed',
'google': 'Google',
'facebook': 'Facebook',
'default': 'Eightfold',
}
In the example of this default mapping,
- The keys on the left in the above dictionary refer to the string we will look for in the PCS ‘source tracking values’.
- The values on the right refer to the string that will be used as the ‘source code’ sent to your ATS.
- If the PCS source doesn’t match with any of the keys, we will default it to the default value we set, which in the example above is ‘Eightfold’, however it could also be set up as other values.
Source mapping process and rules
For more detailed information, read Source mapping process and rules article.
More on ‘normalizing referrer’
As indicated in the previous section, Eightfold’s PCS uses utm_source parameter or src parameter or referrer (in that particular order) to track the source to PCS. For the sources inferred from the HTTP referrer, in order to limit variations, Eightfold normalizes the referrer values by grouping source values using their domain name:
- Without normalization: "m.google.com" and "www.google.co.in" would be treated differently and show up as different rows in reports.
- With normalization: "m.google.com" and "www.google.co.in" would both be normalized into "google" and be treated as one source.
Without normalization
If you do not want your referrer data to be normalized, and use raw source instead (not recommended), you can opt out of this option in Admin Console.
- Go to Admin Console > Talent Experience > Career site & Referrals
- On the Configuration tab, go to Application Flow > Source Tracking
- Set the Career Dashboard Source Tracking Mode value to ‘Use Raw Source’
*utm_source or src will not be normalized and they remain their raw value during the source mapping process. For example, if utm_source=m_google_com it will not be normalized to ‘utm_source=google’.
With normalization
If you want your referrer data to be normalized, you can opt in for this option in Admin Console.
- Go to Admin Console > Talent Experience > Career site & Referrals
- On the Configuration tab, go to Application Flow > Source Tracking
- Set the Career Dashboard Source Tracking Mode value to ‘Use Source Domain (default)’
More examples on source mapping
Example referrer_src_map:
{
'google_sp': 'Google Sponsored’,
'google': 'Google',
'linkedin.com': 'LinkedIn',
'default': 'Eightfold',
}
The table below indicates the behavior of source mapping assuming the above mapping:
| PCS Source | Mapped to Key | Mapped Application Source sent to ATS | Matching Rules and Process |
| utm_source = ‘Google’ | ‘Google’ |
|
|
| utm_source = ‘google_sp’ | google_sp | ‘Google Sponsored’ |
|
| utm_source = ‘google_sp_search’ | google_sp | ‘Google Sponsored’ |
|
| utm_source = ‘linkedin’’ | linkedin.com | ‘LinkedIn’ |
|
| referrer = ‘linkedin.com’ | linkedin.com | ‘LinkedIn’ |
0) referrer got normalized to ‘linkedin’
|
| utm_source =’linkedin.cn’ | ‘default’ | ‘Eightfold’ | 0) utm_source do NOT get normalized’
|
| utm_source = ‘naukri’ | ‘default’ | ‘Eightfold’ |
|
For linkoff PCS customers: "apply_redirect_url"
SmartApply PCS takes care of the process of sending application and source data to ATS; however, if the customer has linkoff PCS - where candidates are redirected to customer’s ATS to finish the application instead of on PCS - we have to rely on limited approaches to send source information to ATS.
In PCS config, “apply_redirect_url” is the redirect url that takes candidates away from PCS and to ATS.
Customers can add parameters in “apply_redirect_url” to send information to ATS. The most basic form of "apply_redirect_url" looks like this:
"apply_redirect_url": "{{JOB_EXTERNAL_URL}}
PCS automatically attaches src={{src}} in the redirect_url to pass the after-mapped source data:
"apply_redirect_url": "{{JOB_EXTERNAL_URL}}&src={{src}}"
For example, the following redirect url will send ‘linked’ as source to the ATS:
"apply_redirect_url": "{{JOB_EXTERNAL_URL}}&src=Linkedin"
Customers need to make sure that src={{src}}:
- The ‘src’ on the left side of the equals sign is the parameter name; please ensure that to put the parameter name related to source that your ATS can recognize. ‘src’ can be changed to any other parameter for your ATS, for example:
- "apply_redirect_url": "{{JOB_EXTERNAL_URL}}&source=Linkedin"
- The ‘src’ on the right side of the equals sign is the post-mapped value of the utm_source/src/referrer values following the steps described above. Please make sure this equals the source code value that your ATS can recognize.