Referral algorithm management

There are three factors that can be managed to prioritize certain organizations over others.

Prioritize for a specific population or legal issue

Prioritizing for a specific population or legal issue is helpful when:

• The service should always be the top result for a particular legal issue, especially when there are many options for the legal issue

• The service should always be at the top for a particular population, particularly when the service is not restricted to specific populations or there are many competing services.

When the user matches on population and/or legal issue, these services will be prioritized first.

Referral Score

The referral score is coded on the back end when the location service is saved. The score is based on settings contained in the `<a href="https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/admin/organizations/referral-settings">Referral Settings Form`_

For a service, the score is calculated by:

• All referral scores start at 0

• If the service is a hotline, adds the hotline score factor to the score

• If the service is an advice desk, adds the hotline score factor to the score

• If the service allows walk-ins, adds the walk-in score factor to the score

• If the service allows telephone or e-mail intake, adds the phone/email factor to the score.

• Calculates a volume score to add to the referral

  • If the volume score factor is 0, ignores volume.

  • If the volume score factor is not 0, adds the monthly volume / volume factor. For example:

    • If the volume is 1000 and factor is 1, will add 1000 to the score

    • If the volume is 1000 and factor is 5, will add 200 to the score

    • If the volume is 1000 and factor is 0, will add 0 to the score.