Advanced Users

Our API (Application Programming Interface) provides a way for you to access CATS features and functions without actually logging in and clicking the links using a web browser. This opens the door for you to communicate with CATS and manipulate your data from:

* Your web site
* A software application
* A mobile device

The current development version of the CATS API is 2.0. Documentation on how to get started and on all of the functions can be found at:

http://api.catsone.com/api/help

API requests are sent over HTTP 1.1 following the principles of RESTful design. This means that you can communicate with our API using just about any programming language or platform with minimal effort. You can even manipulate our API without a programming language simply by typing a URL string into your browser's location bar.

Responses from CATS to API requests are always returned in XML. Refer to the documentation or use the test forms to get a glimpse of how the XML responses will be formatted.

What are the restrictions of the API?

1. You are limited to 1,000 requests per day. Please contact our support team if you'll be requiring a larger number of requests.
2. You must adhere to our Terms of Service.
3. You may not use CATS for any purpose other than an internal recruiting or human resources tool, some examples that we do not allow include: file sharing service or pay-per-posting job board.
4. You may not use our API for anything illegal or immoral.
5. You may not replicate the functionality of CATS with the API to avoid paying per-user costs.
6. You may not resell any service which uses the API without permission from CATS Software, Inc. Please email support@catsone.com for more information.
7. You may not use the API as the primary data source for any external commercial credential-based system (such as using our API to drive a vendor management system).

When you work with extra/custom fields with multiple options (drop-down, checkboxes, radio boxes) we give you a free-fill text box where you can type in which options should appear. This allows you to easily copy and paste values and re-arrange them quickly.

The downside is that when you remove or change values in the list, there's no way for CATS to know which old values should be updated to the new values; therefore, if you remove or rename an option, any old records with the old values will be cleared.

If you need to remove or update the options in a custom/extra field and convert old values to the new ones, here is the recommended procedure:

1) Edit the custom field, and add the new option (do not remove the old ones yet!)
2) Create a filter to view records with the old value and perform a mass edit.
3) Change the old value to the new value (this will update all old records at once).
4) Edit the custom field again and remove the old value.

Presently, CATS is able to post to Google Calendar via Workflow Triggers. Workflow triggers are setup in the following location within CATS:

1. Click on the Settings tab.
2. Click on the Customize Workflow link in the blue bar.
3. Click the Edit button next to the Candidates section.
4. The 2nd tab over is Triggers, click on that and click the Add Trigger button.
5. From the Action drop-down, select Google Calendar Event and fill the rest of the on-screen options including your Google username and password.

Now, when you change a candidate's status to one that is associated with that trigger, a Google Calendar event can be created.

At this time, we do not integrate with any other Google Applications.

CATS provides you the ability to create candidate/company/contact lists based on certain criteria. We have grouped these into two different types: Static and Dynamic. (For demonstration purposes of this FAQ, I will refer to candidate lists, but the same applies for companies and contacts).

What is a static list?

A static list is a list that you create that always stays the same, the way you created it. To create a static list:

1. Navigate to the Candidates tab within CATS.
2. Enter your search criteria using the Search box on the data grid, or by using the Filters button.
3. Once you have the candidates you want in the data grid, use the Mass Action drop-down list (the one that says # Results on the top right hand side of the grid), and select the Add to List option.

What is a dynamic list?

A dynamic list has the ability to add/remove candidates automatically as you add/remove them from your database. We also refer to these as Saved Searches. To create dynamic list:

1. Navigate to the Candidates tab within CATS.
2. Enter your search criteria using the Search box on the data grid, or by using the Filters button.
3. Click the Magnifying Glass icon next to the search field on the data grid. A small window will pop up, allowing you to save this search and pull it up easily in the future.

The file "Save As" box is on the browser side, so unfortunately we can't definitively tell you why it's not appearing for you without accessing your computer; however, here are a few reasons why it might not be showing from previous experience:

1) It may be open already. Hold down the "ALT" key then press "TAB" to cycle through open windows. Check for one titled "Save File As...". On a Mac, hold the Apple Command key + the tilde (~) key when in Safari.

2) Your browser might be blocking it. Check for a yellow bar on the top of your screen saying "This download has been blocked" or similar with an options or allow button. If you're using an anti-virus program, ad-blocker, or browser plugin make sure to add catsone.com to your trusted sites.

3) Some browsers like Safari (and Firefox as an option), by default, will not prompt you for where to save files. In Firefox, click the "Tools" menu, then "Options". Select the "Main" tab, then check off "Always ask me where to save files". You should now be prompted each time you download a file as to where you want to save it.

When adding candidates and resumes to CATS, we perform several checks to identify if the candidate already exists in order to prevent creating a duplicate record. This includes (but is not limited to):

• When candidates apply to jobs on your website.
• When you email resumes into CATS via your resume inbox.
• When adding candidates using the "Add Candidate" area within CATS.
• When mass importing documents or data from CSV files (limited).
• When adding CATS via our Firefox toolbar, Outlook and Word plugins.

What happens when a duplicate is found varies. If adding a resume and a duplicate is found, the resume is added to the existing record. If a candidate applies online and a record already exists, any mismatched data is merged into the profile replacing any older information.

As of March 2010, the criteria that we use to determine whether or not a candidate is a duplicate record includes:

• Email match
• First name, last name and zip code match
• First name, street address *, city and zip code match
• First name, street address *, city and state match
• First name, last name and phone number match

* Street addresses must contain both a letter (a-z) and a number (0-9) to prevent "lazy" addresses (i.e.: "New York, NY" when that data _should_ be in city and state) from incorrectly flagging records as duplicates.

If any of these conditions are met with an existing record, then the new candidate is considered a duplicate. One additional note: not all of these methods are used during mass document or CSV imports, these utilities use only a few of these criteria.

It is not possible to customize how CATS locates duplicates or to disable duplicate protection. Similar duplicate protection applies to contacts, job orders and companies as well (with different criteria).

If a duplicate slips through because none of the above criteria is a match, there is a "Merge Duplicate Records" tool found in the datagrid mass actions which allows you to selectively merge records.

When you perform a general search by entering search terms in the upper left search bar, you are performing a search of all of your candidates, contacts, companies, job orders and resumes — all at once. The results will be sorted by relevance and displayed to you one page at a time.

A result means that a single data item matched your search. On the top of the results page, a string will appear telling you how many results were found and how long it took to fetch those results.

When browsing the results, you may notice that only a few pages are available even when the results is very high. For example, if you are viewing 20 results per page and the counter shows 1,000 results, it stands to reason that you would be able to view 50 pages of results — this is actually not the case, as each result does not correspond to a line/record in the search results page.

For example, you may have one candidate with 5 resumes. A search that matches keywords in all 5 will yield 6 results but only one line on a page: one result for the candidate owning the resumes and 5 for each resume. In addition, records may be in a disabled or inactive status or they may be part of a similar "merging". Finally, the "general search" feature will only allow you to browse the first 1,000 results -- you should refine your search to view more results.

You might ask why we don't just show lines or actual records instead of results. The answer is speed. The "general search" feature is designed to run very fast, returning only the most relevant results but still giving you an idea of how many results you're dealing with.

If you are performing a search to export records, such as when creating an Excel file, CSV file, or to send a mass email, you need all of the records. By clicking one of the buttons on the top right of the "general search" page (i.e.: Candidates, Job Orders, etc.), the search will be converted to a filter. A filter will return each record found and remove any extraneous results. A filter may also return up to 10,000 results, making it ideal for exporting data. Filters run much slower than a general search because of this, which is something to keep in mind if all you need is the first few pages of results from a search.

Uploading to our FTP server:

1. Download an FTP client (ex. Filezilla)
   1. Go to filezilla-project.org
   2. Click the Download FileZilla Client link
   3. Find the client for your operating system and click the download link.
   4. Install the program
2. Upload the files to our FTP
   1. Open the FileZilla program.
   2. Open the Site Manager and click New Site.
   3. Enter the following information and click connect
      • Host: ftp.catsone.com
      • Port: 21
      • Servertype: FTP - File Transfer Protocol
      • Logontype: Normal
      • User: (contact support@catsone.com)
      • Password: (contact support@catsone.com)
   4. Click and drag the files to our server

CATS supports importing data from Excel (.CSV) files if you have your data stored that way. In order to do this:

1) Click on the Candidates tab.
2) Click on the Mass Import link in the blue bar. From here, you will be able to import your candidate, contact, job order, and/or company data.

Sometimes, other companies have their data stored in a proprietary manner, but we have team members that specialize in migrating this data to CATS for you. Because this typically takes some time for us to do, please contact us to get a quote.

CATS has the capability to and automatically tracks where your candidates are coming from. This is helpful to see which sourcing efforts are having the most success. Here is how to add/edit/manage your source list:

1. Navigate to the Candidates tab within CATS.
2. Click on a (any) candidate's name from the data grid list.
3. Click the Edit button towards the top of the page.
4. Look about halfway down the page. Here you will see the following options:
   1. No Source: This will not list a source for this candidate.
   2. Select Existing Source: This will allow you to assign the candidate's source from the existing list of sources CATS has compiled for you.
   3. Create New Source: This option will allow you to create a new source in the case your option is not on the existing list.
   4. Merge/Manage Sources: Here, you can rename existing sources, merge multiple sources together, and delete existing sources.

CATS allows you to create a complete backup of your account and to download it on demand.

Our backups are in CSV format: Your data is stored as Comma Separated Values files. These can be opened in Excel and are plain text. You need no additional software to load and view the data. It also includes your resumes compressed in a ZIP file.

To create a backup:

Click on the Settings tab>Administration>Site Backup

Note: Creating a backup may take a few minutes depending on the size of your site.

You can also automate this procedure which would allow you to set a schedule for which a computer under your control queries our server and downloads a backup on a regular basis. See our API documentation's "create_backup" function for more information:

http://api.catsone.com/api/get_backup

When creating the job order, in the "Company Job ID" field, type "Hidden". This will allow you to email the posting, but not have it published to the web.