👤 This article is for Hub Administrators, Development Program Managers, or Development Program Administrators.
This article will guide you through the process of configuring your Development Program's match criteria in 10KC. Match criteria enable you to tailor 10KC’s matching algorithm to find the most effective participant matches, helping you achieve your desired member and program outcomes.
This articles covers:
Basic Matching Concepts
Match Criteria - Segments & Private Segments
Combo Rules
Advanced Settings & Rules
You can use the index on the right side of this page to quickly jump to specific sections as needed.
Navigate to your Development Program
Login to your 10KC Hub
In the left navigation menu of your Hub, go to Development Programs > Manage Programs
Don't see this option? You may not have the proper permissions
Click on the Draft tab (if your program is unpublished) or the Live tab (if your program is published) to locate your program
Select the program
From your Development Program, click on the “Smart-matches” tab.
From the “Smart-matches” tab, click on “Matching Rules"
7. You will then be able to click through the different segment rule options:
Segments
Private segments
Combo rules
Settings
✅ Section 1: Basic Matching Concepts
Matching rules can be Preferred or Required.
Preferred | Preferred selection makes the rule a soft-rule i.e. it's taken into consideration while matching but there might be pairs which don't follow it (especially when members don't meet this rule) |
Required | Required selection makes the rule a hard-rule i.e. it's always taken into consideration while matching and all matches will follow this rule |
✅ Section 2: Match Criteria - Segments & Private Segments
Basic match criteria are defined using Segments and Private Segments, which help define which members should be matched with each other based on various attributes.
Segments help define matches based on attributes such as Role, Department, Hire Date, Location, or any employee attribute imported from your HRIS. All development programs also include a built-in segment that defines whether a member is a mentor or a mentee, and matching based on this segment can be enabled using Program-based mentor/mentee matching.
Private Segments behave exactly the same way as segment matching rules. The key distinction is the type of data stored: Private segments are not visible to participants.
Inclusive Rules: You can set rules to be inclusive, choosing which segment options match with other segment options (e.g., VPs and SVPs only match with Directors, Sr. Directors & Executives).
Exclusive Rules: Alternatively, rules can be exclusive, allowing you to choose what segment options not to match with (e.g., do not match Executives with Interns or Individual Contributors).
Match with all options: This setting allows the selected segment option to be matched with every other available option within that segment.
Match with all other options: This setting allows the selected segment option to be matched with all other options except for itself within the specified segment.
Match with itself: This setting allows a specific segment option (e.g., "Manager") to be matched with other members who share the exact same segment option (i.e., other "Managers").
As a reminder these rules can be set as either inclusive (allowing matches with themselves) or exclusive (preventing matches with themselves).
✅ Section 3: Combo Rules
Combo rules enable you to use a combination of two or more segments to create highly specific matching rules. For example, you can more easily match Managers who are Mentors with Individual Contributors who are Mentees.
Creating Combo Rules
Navigate to the Smart-matches tab in a Development Program.
You can define your matching rules in the "Combo rules" tab.
Simple Combo Rule - Let's say you want to match VPs who are Mentors with Sr. Directors who are Mentees. This is a straightforward rule that pairs members based on both their role and their program role.
Adding Multiple Segments and Priority - To create a more specific rule, you can combine multiple segments and assign a priority level. For instance, you could match VPs and SVPs who are Mentors with Sr. Directors and Directors who are Mentees.
To give preference to certain matches (e.g., matching with Sr. Directors over Directors), you can enable Priority. This ensures that the system will prioritize creating the highest-value pairings before moving on to the next rule.
✅ Section 4: Advanced Settings & Rules
The Settings tab offers several options to refine your matching processes:
Automate Matches: When enabled, 10KC will automatically generate and send matches live on a scheduled date.
Allow Repeat Matches from Previous Experiences (Development Programs and Introductions): This setting allows individuals to be matched with the same person again, even if they were paired in a past program.
Advanced Options: This section provides tools for bulk editing member-level matching rules.
Exclusion Rules: options, you can set matching rules at a member-level by adding match exclusions to each member. By adding exclusions, you prevent members from being matched with members that they shouldn't be matched to (e.g. employees with their managers). You can read more about setting up a manager exclusion rules in your mentorship program in this article.
How Do Match-Level Roles Work?
Sometimes, members may select to be "both mentor & mentee." This is particularly relevant when you allow members to participate in both roles simultaneously. If two such members are matched, it can be unclear who should serve as the mentor and who as the mentee within that specific match.
To solve this, match-level roles allow you to define role assignments in these circumstances. For example, as an admin, you can set a rule to prioritize who to put as mentors first. You can specify that a roles hierarchy should determine who is the mentor (e.g., the more senior role becomes the mentor, and the junior role becomes the mentee). This is often used for role level prioritization, so anyone who is higher in the hierarchy will be assigned as a mentor first.
To use this feature:
Click on "For matches with participants with both roles, follow this rule"
Click Add a rule.
Select the segment you want to use for creating your match-level role hierarchy.
Ensure the list of segment options is in the correct hierarchical order.
You can add more rules as needed. Once you're finished, click Save changes.
Once these steps are completed, your match-level roles for the development program will be defined!