HRMS migration
Field-level mapping, validation, and rollback between Business Draft and BambooHR. We move data and schema; workflows are rebuilt natively in BambooHR.
Business Draft
Source
BambooHR
Destination
Compatibility
9 of 10
objects map 1:1 between Business Draft and BambooHR.
Complexity
BStandard
Timeline
3-5 weeks
Overview
Moving from Business Draft to BambooHR is a platform-category migration: Business Draft is an Applicant Tracking System focused exclusively on the hiring workflow, while BambooHR is a core HRIS that spans recruiting, onboarding, employment records, performance management, and payroll. The data model difference is structural. Business Draft organizes hiring around Candidates advancing through configurable Application stages; BambooHR separates recruiting (Job Openings and Applicants in the Hiring module) from employment (Employees with onboarding, time-off, and performance tied to the same record). We design the mapping during scoping so that a Business Draft Candidate with an accepted Offer becomes a BambooHR Employee with a linked Job History entry, not an orphaned applicant. Video response files export as standalone binary assets since BambooHR does not accept inline video attachments via standard import. Automated Workflows, self-scheduling links, and background check vendor reports do not migrate; we deliver a written inventory of each for the customer's admin to rebuild or re-initiate post-migration.
Every standard and custom field arrives verified.
AI proposes the map; you confirm before any record moves.
Parent–child, lookups, and ownership stay linked.
Calls, emails, meetings — with original timestamps.
Documents, uploads, and inline notes move with the record.
Why teams make this switch
Leaving
What's pushing teams away
Choosing
What's pulling them in
Object mapping
Each row shows how a Business Draft object lands in BambooHR, including any object-level transformations, lookup resolution, or schema-design dependencies.
Typical mapping — final map is confirmed during the sample migration step.
Business Draft
Candidate
BambooHR
Employee (via Hiring Applicant conversion)
1:1Business Draft Candidates map to BambooHR Employees, but the path differs based on hiring status. Candidates with a hired Application (Offer accepted, stage = Hired) become BambooHR Employee records with hire date, department, and job title populated from the Application and Offer data. Candidates without a hired Application become BambooHR Applicants in the Hiring module. We resolve the conversion at migration time using Business Draft's stage history. Candidates with partial submissions (dropped applicants) become Applicants with an incomplete application flag rather than Employees. The BambooHR Employee record is the primary object for all post-hire HR operations including onboarding, time-off, and performance.
Business Draft
Job
BambooHR
Job Opening
1:1Business Draft Job postings map to BambooHR Job Openings. The job title, department, and posting status (Open, Closed, Draft) transfer directly. Job posting date and closing date migrate as metadata fields. Job Openings in BambooHR link to Applicants through the Hiring module, and to Employees once an offer is accepted and the applicant converts to an employee record.
Business Draft
Application
BambooHR
Applicant record (linked to Job Opening)
1:1Business Draft Applications link a Candidate to a Job and track stage progression (Started Applying, Review, Interview, Offer). Stage history and timestamp for each stage transition migrate as structured data attached to the BambooHR Applicant. Review decisions (approve/reject at each stage) map to the BambooHR Applicant status workflow. The Application-to-Candidate relationship is preserved as a linked record pair so the full hiring journey is visible in BambooHR.
Business Draft
Interview Stage
BambooHR
Hiring Pipeline stage
lossyBusiness Draft configurable Application stages (Started Applying, Review, Interview) map to BambooHR Hiring pipeline stages. We map each Business Draft stage name to an equivalent BambooHR stage and preserve the probability or weighting if configured. Custom stage names (e.g., Technical Screen, Executive Interview) require manual definition in BambooHR's Hiring settings before migration because BambooHR's default pipeline uses a simpler stage set.
Business Draft
Offer
BambooHR
Offer record (linked to Applicant)
1:1Business Draft Offer records (compensation details and acceptance status) map to BambooHR's offer metadata within the Hiring module. Offer documents export as binary files separately and are attached manually post-migration. Acceptance status from Business Draft determines whether the Applicant converts to an Employee record.
Business Draft
Review Decision
BambooHR
Applicant status note
1:1Recruiter decisions at the Review stage (approve, reject, move forward) migrate as structured notes on the BambooHR Applicant record. The decision text and reviewer name transfer; the original Business Draft decision timestamp is preserved as a custom field note. BambooHR does not have a native review-decision object, so this maps as an applicant note rather than a typed field.
Business Draft
Dropped Applicant
BambooHR
Applicant (incomplete status)
1:1Business Draft Candidates who began but did not complete an Application migrate to BambooHR Applicants with an incomplete application flag and the original partial submission timestamp. Partial field data (name, email, resume if submitted) transfers; stage progression data is limited to the last completed stage. The customer decides whether to re-engage these candidates in BambooHR or treat them as inactive.
Business Draft
Video Response
BambooHR
Standalone binary asset (export only)
1:1Business Draft video response submissions download as standalone binary files during extraction and are delivered alongside the candidate record CSV. Video files cannot be imported into BambooHR as inline attachments. The customer re-hosts videos on a video platform (Vimeo, YouTube, or internal hosting) and links to them manually from the BambooHR Applicant record if async video evaluation continues as a hiring practice.
Business Draft
Background Check
BambooHR
Background check status note (re-initiation required)
1:1Business Draft background check status flags and summaries migrate as notes on the BambooHR Applicant record. The detailed vendor report (PDF from Checkr, HireRight, or similar) does not transfer from Business Draft and must be re-requested from the vendor directly. We flag which candidates require re-initiation of background checks post-migration and provide a list ordered by application date.
Business Draft
Automated Workflow
BambooHR
No equivalent (inventory delivered for manual rebuild)
1:1Business Draft automated workflow triggers (SMS, email, stage transition reminders) do not have a direct BambooHR equivalent as migratable code. We extract and document every active Business Draft workflow including its trigger conditions, recipient logic, and action sequence. The customer uses this inventory to configure equivalent automations in BambooHR Actions or an iPaaS connector post-migration. Self-scheduling links are ephemeral platform artifacts and are not migratable.
| Business Draft | BambooHR | Compatibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Employee (via Hiring Applicant conversion)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Job | Job Opening1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Application | Applicant record (linked to Job Opening)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Interview Stage | Hiring Pipeline stagelossy | Fully supported | |
| Offer | Offer record (linked to Applicant)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Review Decision | Applicant status note1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Dropped Applicant | Applicant (incomplete status)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Video Response | Standalone binary asset (export only)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Background Check | Background check status note (re-initiation required)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Automated Workflow | No equivalent (inventory delivered for manual rebuild)1:1 | Fully supported |
Gotchas + challenges
Platform-specific issues from each side, plus the pair-specific challenges that don't show up on either platform's page on its own.
Business Draft gotchas
No publicly documented API endpoint surface
Video response files stored in proprietary format
Background check results are third-party dependent
BambooHR gotchas
Undocumented API rate limits can trigger 503 errors
Per-employee pricing model requires active record count verification
API credentials must be sent on every request to avoid extra round trips
Custom field schema varies per account and requires manual inventory
Document and attachment exports are not covered by standard report exports
Pair-specific challenges
Migration approach
Discovery and export coverage audit
We audit Business Draft across the customer's account: candidate volume, job volume, application count, stage definitions, dropped applicant volume, offer records, video response submissions, background check flags, and active automated workflows. We confirm what fields are available in Business Draft's CSV export format. We pair this with BambooHR account audit: current plan tier, ATS add-on status, existing Employee records, custom field definitions, and Hiring module configuration. The discovery output is a written migration scope with source field coverage, destination field mapping, and the ATS-add-on decision point.
Conversion rule design and schema preparation
We design the ATS-to-HRIS conversion rule: which Business Draft stage constitutes a hire, how Application data maps to BambooHR Employee fields at conversion, and how stage history attaches to BambooHR Applicants. We configure BambooHR Hiring pipeline stages to match Business Draft's stage names where possible, or document the naming delta for the customer's admin to reconcile. If BambooHR ATS add-on is not active, we scope the hiring module separately and flag the additional cost. We configure custom fields in BambooHR for any Business Draft fields that have no native equivalent (e.g., original application date, video response status, dropped applicant flag).
Sandbox migration and reconciliation
We run a full migration into BambooHR using a test environment (or a cloned subset of the production account if BambooHR's sandbox model permits) with production-like data volume. The customer's HR lead reconciles record counts: Employees in, Applicants in, Job Openings in, stage history attached correctly, and offer data linked to the right Applicant. We spot-check 25-50 records against Business Draft source data and the customer signs off the mapping before production migration begins. Any field mapping corrections happen here.
Video file extraction and document export
We extract all video response files from Business Draft as standalone binary assets and deliver them alongside the candidate record CSVs. We export offer documents as separate PDF files. We extract background check status summaries as structured notes. These exports are delivered in a labeled file structure so the customer can re-host videos and attach documents post-migration. We provide a mapping guide linking each video file to the corresponding BambooHR Applicant record.
Production migration in dependency order
We run production migration in record-dependency order: Job Openings (created first so Applicants link to them), Applicants (with stage history and review decisions), Employees (converted from Candidates with accepted Offers, with hire date and department from Application and Offer data), and Employee extensions for candidates with partial submissions. Video files and offer documents are delivered as separate file packages. Each phase emits a row-count reconciliation report before the next phase begins.
Cutover, validation, and workflow inventory delivery
We freeze Business Draft access during cutover and run a final delta migration of any records modified during the migration window. We deliver the automated workflow inventory document to the customer's admin team for rebuild in BambooHR Actions or an iPaaS connector. We support a one-week hypercare window to resolve reconciliation issues. We do not rebuild Business Draft automated workflows as BambooHR automations inside the migration scope; that is a separate configuration engagement.
Platform deep dives
Business Draft
Source
Strengths
Weaknesses
BambooHR
Destination
Strengths
Weaknesses
Complexity grading
Standard HRMS migration. All 7 core objects map 1:1 between Business Draft and BambooHR.
Overall complexity
Standard migration
Derived from compatibility, mapping clarity, API constraints, and data volume across Business Draft and BambooHR.
Object compatibility
All 7 core objects map 1:1 between Business Draft and BambooHR.
Field mapping clarity
Field mapping is derived from defaults — final spec confirmed during the sample migration.
Timeline complexity
7-object category — typical timelines run 2–7 days end-to-end.
API constraints
Business Draft: Not publicly documented.
Data volume sensitivity
Business Draft doesn't expose a bulk API — REST + parallelization used for high-volume runs.
Estimator
Rule-based pricing — no per-record fees, no manual quotes. Migrations over 2M records are scoped individually.
Step 1
Pick a category, then your source and destination platforms.
Category
FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask most during Business Draft to BambooHR migration scoping. Not seeing yours? Book a call.
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