Migrate from Aotal to Zoho Recruit

Aotal Employee records map to Zoho Recruit Candidate records. We extract name fields (First Name, Last Name), contact information, and any competency or skill properties into Zoho Recruit's standard Candidate fields or custom fields. Last Name is a mandatory field in Zoho Recruit; any Aotal records without a last name are flagged during scoping and assigned a placeholder value (not provided) per Zoho Recruit's import requirements. The Candidate's Email field becomes the primary deduplication key during import.

Aotal Departments map to Zoho Recruit's built-in Department module. Department is loaded first in the migration sequence because it has no incoming lookup dependencies, and it is referenced by Role and Employee records downstream. We preserve the department hierarchy as stored in Aotal and map it to Zoho Recruit's flat Department list, noting that Aotal's hierarchical parent-child relationship requires manual recreation as a custom field in Zoho Recruit if the hierarchy needs to be preserved visually.

Aotal Role records (job titles, position descriptions) map to Zoho Recruit Job Opening records. The Aotal Role's associated Department maps to the Zoho Recruit Job Opening's Department field via lookup. Job Opening is loaded before Candidate records so that the Job Opening lookup field on Candidate is satisfied at insert time. Status fields (Active, Filled, On Hold) from Aotal map to Zoho Recruit's Job Opening status values.

Aotal Training Records represent historical employee development data that does not have a native Zoho Recruit equivalent. We assess whether the customer's Zoho Recruit plan includes Custom Modules (Enterprise plan required for full customization with 300 fields per module). If yes, we create a Training History custom module with fields for Course Name, Date Completed, Expiry Date, and Issuer, linked to the Candidate via a lookup relationship. If the destination plan does not include custom modules, training records are migrated as Notes attached to the Candidate record with structured body text and the relevant dates preserved in the Note body.

Aotal competency profiles (skills, certifications, ratings) have no direct Zoho Recruit equivalent. We evaluate the source competency fields and map them to Zoho Recruit's Skills multi-select picklist on the Candidate record for skill-level data. For certification and rating data, we create custom fields on the Candidate module (available on Professional and Enterprise plans with 50 and 300 fields per module respectively). If the customer is on the Standard plan, certification data is merged into structured Note attachments.

Aotal performance review cycles are tied to the Performance module and do not have a native Zoho Recruit counterpart. Zoho Recruit is an ATS, not an HR performance management system. We do not migrate performance review scores, cycle dates, or reviewer feedback as structured records. We deliver a written inventory of all performance cycles in scope, including cycle name, review period, and the scoring fields used, for the customer to evaluate Zoho People or a dedicated performance management platform as a separate implementation.

If Aotal stores client or vendor organization records for staffing operations, these map directly to Zoho Recruit's Client module. Client records are loaded before Job Openings and Candidates so that the Client lookup on Job Openings is satisfied. Client name, industry, website, and contact details map to Zoho Recruit's standard Client fields. Additional Aotal client properties migrate as custom fields if the destination plan supports them.

Aotal contact records associated with client organizations map to Zoho Recruit's Contact module. The Contact is linked to the corresponding Client record via the Client Name lookup field. Email, phone, title, and address fields migrate directly. Aotal contact roles or titles are preserved in the Contact's Title field or a custom field if the destination plan supports it.

Aotal interview records (scheduled interviews, interview feedback) map to Zoho Recruit's Interview module. Interview date, time, interviewer name, and status migrate directly. Feedback scores and comments from Aotal map to Zoho Recruit's Interview Feedback Form fields if the destination plan includes this feature (Standard and above). Interview records are linked to the Candidate and Job Opening via Zoho Recruit's lookup relationships.

Aotal task records (hiring tasks, follow-up items) map to Zoho Recruit's Task module. Subject, due date, assigned owner, and status migrate directly. We resolve the task owner by email match against Zoho Recruit users. Any Aotal task owner without a matching Zoho Recruit user goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before the Task import phase begins.

Aotal notes attached to employee or candidate records migrate to Zoho Recruit's Notes module linked to the corresponding Candidate, Client, or Job Opening record. Note title, body, and creation date migrate. If the Aotal note contains structured data (e.g., a formatted evaluation), we preserve the body as rich text and flag it for the customer's admin to reformat into Zoho Recruit's Interview Feedback Form or a custom field as appropriate.

Aotal onboarding records (offer letters, document signing, onboarding task lists) are flagged as attachments-only and do not migrate as structured records. Binary documents and signed agreements stored in Aotal are exported as file attachments and delivered alongside the migration for the customer's admin to re-upload to Zoho Recruit's Document Library or attach to the relevant Candidate record manually, as their internal formats require case-by-case review.

Aotal custom talent fields (module-specific configurations that extend the standard schema) do not have direct Zoho Recruit equivalents. We assess each custom field's data type, associated module, and usage frequency. Fields that map to a supported Zoho Recruit field type (text, number, date, picklist, multi-select, checkbox) are recreated as custom fields on the corresponding Zoho Recruit module. Custom field creation is available on Professional and Enterprise plans. Standard plan customers receive a written field inventory for manual re-creation post-migration.