Skip to main content

​
Suggestions

Suggestions
  1. Scheduled trigger: We send out suggestions at specific time intervals. On such an interval cycle, we trigger the TechWolf Skill Assistant. The interval can be changed depending on your needs.
  2. Fetch suggestions: To get those suggestions, we fetch them from our own API. More specifically, from the Suggestions Skill Profile endpoint, for all employees that are part of the TechWolf Skill Assistant group.
  3. Send suggestions: We send out the suggestions to the Degreed platform.
  4. Users receive the Skill Suggestions and Notifications: The Degreed platform delivers the Skill Suggestions to the correct user.

​
How the Skill Engine API max skills setting affects suggestions

The Skill Engine API uses the max_skills setting to return the top ranked Skills for an Employee based on their data. This setting does not directly mean that an Employee will only ever see that number of suggestions over time. The ranking is based on the Employee Skill Profile and includes Skills that were already accepted or rejected. The Skill Engine API then filters out already validated Skills before suggestions are shown in the Skill Assistant.

​
What happens near the limit

Rejected Skills can still influence the top max_skills ranking through an indirect effect. A rejection acts as feedback for the recommendation model and can change the confidence scores of related Skills. When an Employee is close to the limit, this recalculation can reorder the Employee Skill Profile and cause a different Skill to enter the top max_skills.
  1. The Skill Engine API returns the top max_skills Skills from the Employee Skill Profile.
  2. The Employee validates suggestions (for example, accepts 6 and rejects 4).
  3. The recommendation scores are recalculated based on the new feedback, including the rejection signal, which can change nearby Skill rankings.
  4. If this recalculation pulls another Skill into the top max_skills, that Skill can appear as a new suggestion.

​
What happens when data changes

When new Skill Events are added, probabilities can change and different Skills can enter the top max_skills ranking. This can create new suggestions for the Employee. Employee Skill Profile states after new Skill Events
  1. New Skill Events are added for the Employee.
  2. New inferred Skills are scored and compared against the current top max_skills ranking.
  3. Only the new Skills that enter the top max_skills become visible suggestions.
  4. Repeating this process over time can lead to more than max_skills validated Skills on an Employee profile.

​
Feedback on Skill Suggestions

When users add Skills to their profile in Degreed, this feedback is synced back to TechWolf using the Degreed Skill Sync. This means the Skill Assistant only sends out suggestions from TechWolf to Degreed and that the Degreed Skill Sync retrieves the feedback from Degreed and syncs it back to TechWolf. You can find more information in the developer documentation for the Degreed Skill Sync

​
Linking Degreed users and employee profiles in TechWolf

To link Degreed users to employee profiles in TechWolf, Degreed users should be added to the Group called TechWolf Skill Assistant in Degreed. Users that are added to this Group, will be installed by automatically linking their employee ID to TechWolf and will receive Skill Suggestions.

​
Data flows

​
General overview

Data Flow Overview

​
Components

Degreed The Degreed environment used by the customer. AWS infrastructure TechWolf utilizes AWS infrastructure to facilitate communication between Degreed and the Skill Assistant. This infrastructure comprises:
  • Scheduling infrastructure (EventBridge + SQS + Lambda) + Batch: This scheduler triggers the suggestion flow at defined intervals using a queue and jobs running in AWS Batch, which includes caching, processing skill suggestions from the SEAPI and sending them out.
Skill Assistant TechWolf’s backend system responsible for sending skill suggestions to Degreed. It handles scheduling and configuration of the suggestion flow. Skill Engine API The main TechWolf product. Handles skill-related data processing and integration. Generates skill suggestions for employees.

​
Data processing

Types of data that is processed
  • Skill Suggestions: Automatically inferred skills for an employee, retrieved from the Skill Engine API.
  • Degreed User Data: Employee details retrieved from Degreed systems, including name.
Data Processing Overview
Managed bySuggestionsFeedbackDegreed User Data
DegreedCustomerXXX
AWS: Scheduling infrastructureTechWolf
AWS: BatchTechWolfXX
Skill AssistantTechWolfXX
Skill Engine APITechWolfXXX

​
Data storage

Overview of Data Storage Locations
Managed bySuggestionsFeedbackDegreed User Data
DegreedCustomerXXX
AWS: Scheduling infrastructureTechWolf
AWS: BatchTechWolf
Skill AssistantTechWolfXX (No personal identifiable information stored)
Skill Engine APITechWolfXXX (No personal identifiable information stored)

​
Communication Protocols

All data exchanges occur over REST APIs secured by TLS 1.2 or higher.

​
Suggesting Skills

Suggesting Skills Process
  1. Fetch suggestions: On a regular basis, the Skill Assistant will fetch suggestions generated by the API.
  2. Sending the suggestion: The suggestion is sent by the Skill Assistant to the customer Degreed tenant.
Data Involved
  1. Degreed ID, Internal ID, Suggestion
  2. Degreed ID, Suggestion