By default, researcher assignments are 1-to-1, meaning that one search type or location is assigned to one researcher. With the Researcher Groups feature, select clients and/or client types can be assigned to a specified selection of researchers.

A benefit of using researcher groups is the Round Robin load balancing of work. The Researcher Group mechanism will evenly distribute searches to researchers within a Researcher group for that set of clients. The Round Robin load balancing will assign searches based on which researcher in the group currently has the least amount of assigned searches on a daily basis. Searches are assigned on an applicant (whole report) basis. Round Robin assignments are based on date.

For example, if Researcher A has 100 searches and Researcher B has 10 on Monday, the count starts over on Tuesday.

For an additional example, a report is ordered for John Smith with 2 verifications. These will all be assigned to Researcher A. Another report is ordered for Jane Doe with 3 verifications. All 3 verifications for Jane Doe will be assigned to researcher B.

This option is only available for the following search types:

In order to configure a Researcher Group, the researchers will first need to be assigned to the search type using the Assign Researcher button (if they are not already assigned).

Once all the necessary researchers have been added, you can begin creating your Researcher Groups.

Navigate to Researcher -> Researcher Network, and select the compatible search type. For this example, the Statewide Criminal (SWCR) search type will be used:

Click the Create Researcher Group button.

This will open the panel to create the group and add researchers. Use the Group Label field to add a name to the Researcher Group.

*NOTE* Only active researchers can be added to a Researcher Group. Inactive researchers cannot be added to a group.

Now that a group is created, any number of Clients or Client Types can be assigned to it. Expand the Researcher Group you're working with, and click the + Add Client(s) button.

Begin typing the Client Type name in the Client Type field. The field will populate Client Types after the first three characters have been typed in. From here, you can select the client type that you wish to assign to this group. Multiple client types can be added in a Researcher Group.

The steps to assign a client to a Researcher Group are almost identical to adding client types, except you will be adding clients to the group instead of client types: