Migrate from Sage People to Bullhorn ATS & CRM

Sage People Employee records map to Bullhorn Candidate records. The core fields (first name, last name, email, phone, address, employment dates, job title, department) map directly to Bullhorn Candidate fields. We add a custom field employee_status__c set to true to distinguish migrated employees from pure recruiting candidates. The Bullhorn Candidate record is the parent record for all subsequent HR data in Bullhorn.

For organizations that use Bullhorn to track internal employees as contacts on a ClientCorporation representing the employer entity, we create a ClientCorporation for the organization itself and attach Employee records as Contact records with a custom employment_status field. The customer's Bullhorn admin chooses this pattern during scoping based on whether Bullhorn is the sole HR record or dual-system with another HRIS.

Sage People Departments with parent-child hierarchies have no direct Bullhorn equivalent. We create a departments__c custom object (or use custom fields on ClientCorporation) with name, cost_center_code, and parent_department__c lookup. If the organization uses Bullhorn to track staffing clients, ClientCorporation is reserved for external clients and internal org structure uses the custom object. The customer decides during scoping.

Leave balances, absence types, and accrual histories migrate to a Bullhorn custom object (customObject1s) linked to the Candidate record. Fields include absence_type__c (text), start_date__c, end_date__c, hours_taken__c, accrual_balance__c, and carryover__c. Bullhorn ATS Growth edition does not include custom objects—absence data is documented in a written inventory for manual re-entry. Custom objects require Bullhorn Support to provision before migration data load.

Effective-dated compensation records migrate as Bullhorn custom object instances (customObject2s) linked to the Candidate. Each record carries effective_date__c, base_salary__c, bonus_amount__c, currency__c, and change_reason__c. Custom compensation components (allowances, equity, commissions) migrate as additional custom fields on the compensation object. The customer confirms which compensation fields exist in their Sage People schema during discovery.

Sage People separates Job templates from filled Position records. Filled positions map to Bullhorn JobOrder records representing active or historical job openings. Job templates that do not have a corresponding vacancy are stored as a jobs_template__c custom object or documented in the handoff inventory. The mapping preserves the relationship between a position and its assigned Employee (Candidate) as a custom field on JobOrder.

Enhanced Objectives and performance review records migrate to Bullhorn customObject3s linked to the Candidate. We map objective_text__c, metrics__c, review_status__c, review_date__c, and overall_rating__c. Draft-state objectives with known Sage People state-machine issues are flagged in the mapping notes for admin review before insert. Bullhorn ATS Growth and ATS editions have limited custom object capacity—performance data may require a staged migration or written inventory approach.

Employee documents (contracts, certifications, ID copies) export from Sage People as Salesforce attachments with time-limited URLs that expire in approximately two minutes. We pre-fetch all document binary blobs in a batch queue immediately before Bullhorn insert, avoiding the URL expiry window entirely. Each document uploads to Bullhorn as ContentDocument, associated to the Candidate via ContentDocumentLink. File names and MIME types are preserved for admin reference.

If the Sage People organization uses the Recruitment add-on module, candidate applications and vacancy postings migrate to Bullhorn Candidate and JobOrder records. Vacancy requirements and compensation bands stored as custom fields on the vacancy object map to equivalent custom fields on JobOrder. The Sage People candidate record maps directly to Bullhorn Candidate with application status preserved in a custom field.

Timesheet entries from Sage People Timesheets module migrate to Bullhorn customObject4s linked to the Candidate. Shift schedules and recurring patterns are not fully mappable if the destination does not use a shift management module—we document shift patterns as a written schedule reference for the admin to reconfigure in Bullhorn or a separate time-tracking tool. Shift patterns with complex recurring rules are not automated in this migration scope.

Sage People workflows and approval rules are Salesforce configuration objects that are not exposed via API. We cannot export them as data. During discovery we document every active workflow (leave approval chains, manager escalation paths, onboarding automation) as a written configuration inventory. Bullhorn Automation (formerly Herefish) or manual workflow setup in Bullhorn replaces these. The inventory document is delivered before cutover.

Sage People reports and dashboards are built on the Salesforce reporting engine and are not portable across platforms. We do not migrate them. We deliver a written index of every Sage People report with its name, object dependency, filters, and scheduling as reference for the customer's admin to rebuild in Bullhorn reporting or a third-party BI tool.