Migrate from SumTotal to Zoho Recruit

SumTotal Learner records map to Zoho Recruit Candidates via the Candidate module. We extract first name, last name, email address, phone, hire date, and any custom profile fields. Last Name is mandatory in Zoho Recruit — any SumTotal learner record missing a last name is flagged and populated with 'not provided' before import per Zoho's import documentation. Users who already hold individual Zoho Recruit accounts must close those accounts before they can be imported into a company Zoho Recruit instance; we flag these conflicts during reconciliation. SumTotal user status (active, inactive, suspended) maps to Zoho Recruit Candidate status flags.

SumTotal Courses and Curricula represent learning content rather than job requisitions and have no native Zoho Recruit equivalent. If SumTotal was used to track internal job requisitions or requisition-based training programs alongside its LMS functions, those requisitions map to Zoho Recruit Job Openings with associated Candidates. Standalone learning content (Courses, Curricula) is documented as a custom Zoho Creator or Zoho Recruit custom module for the customer's admin to configure post-migration, as it requires a separate content management strategy.

SumTotal Training Records (transcripts) capture what each learner completed, with completion dates, scores, and credit flags. We export the full transcript history and map it to a custom Training History module in Zoho Recruit, linked to the corresponding Candidate record via a Lookup relationship. Completion dates migrate as custom date fields; scores migrate as custom number fields. Note that Zoho Recruit's custom modules on Standard are limited to 50 fields per module, and Lookup fields are not available in Standard — the Professional or Enterprise tier is required for cross-module lookup relationships.

SumTotal Compliance Certification records include expiry dates, renewal rules, and audit-trail metadata. These map to a Zoho Recruit custom Certifications module with expiry date, renewal status, and issuing body as custom fields. Renewal automation logic (automated reminders, escalation triggers) does not migrate because SumTotal stores renewal rules as configuration objects not accessible via data API. We document the renewal rules for the customer's admin to rebuild as Zoho Recruit Workflow Rules post-migration.

SumTotal ILT Sessions include session metadata, registrations, attendance records, and venue/room associations. We export session-level metadata and registration records as a custom Sessions module linked to Candidates (attendees). Venue and room facility data is typically not fully exported from SumTotal and is documented as a Zoho Recruit custom field or note for manual completion post-migration.

SumTotal Goals and Performance Reviews are part of the talent management module, which is gated behind enterprise-tier licensing. Not all SumTotal tenants have this module active, and it has no equivalent in Zoho Recruit's ATS schema. We confirm module availability during scoping, exclude these objects from the migration contract, and document the performance data scope for the customer's HR leadership to evaluate whether Zoho People or a separate HRMS handles this post-migration.

SumTotal's automation engine drives learner assignment rules, deadline notifications, and escalation workflows stored as automation configuration rather than data records. The REST API does not export these rules. We document every active SumTotal workflow with its trigger, conditions, and actions in a written inventory delivered alongside the migration. The customer's admin rebuilds these as Zoho Recruit Workflow Rules (available on Standard and Enterprise at different limits: 5 per module on Standard, 50 on Enterprise) or as Blueprint processes on Enterprise.

SumTotal allows custom fields on standard objects. We capture every custom field definition (field name, type, validation rules, picklist values) alongside data exports. Zoho Recruit supports custom fields per module on paid tiers (50 per module on Standard, 300 on Professional, 300 on Enterprise). Custom field types including lookup, formula, multi-select picklist, and dependency fields are supported on Professional and Enterprise only. We pre-create all destination custom fields before import and map data types to their closest Zoho Recruit equivalents.

If SumTotal was used to track internal job requisitions as part of its talent acquisition module, those requisitions map directly to Zoho Recruit Job Opening records. Job title, department, hiring manager, status, and description migrate as standard Zoho Recruit Job Opening fields. Zoho Recruit's Corporate plan comparison shows job opening limits per tier (1 on Free, 10 on Standard/recruiter, 20 on Enterprise/recruiter), which we confirm against the import scope during scoping.

SumTotal's Content Library holds course metadata including taxonomy, categories, and folder hierarchies used for content discoverability. The Content Library browsing and taxonomy navigation is not fully replicated via SumTotal's API export — we export the course records but the folder/category hierarchy requires manual reconstruction in Zoho Recruit's document management system (Zoho WorkDrive) or as a custom content module. We flag this as a manual post-migration step.

SumTotal administrative users and instructors map to Zoho Recruit Users. We resolve SumTotal owner/instructor records by email against Zoho Recruit's User table. Zoho Recruit differentiates between staffing agency mode (Candidates, Clients, Job Openings) and corporate HR mode (Employees, Department, Candidates). The customer selects the deployment mode during Zoho Recruit onboarding; we align the migration object model to this selection during scoping.

SumTotal learner documents, course materials, and compliance certificates stored as attachments migrate to Zoho Recruit's Document Library (available on Standard and Enterprise). Candidate attachments (resumes, cover letters, credentials) migrate to Candidate attachment records linked via ContentDocumentLink. We export attachments in bulk and map them to the corresponding parent record in Zoho Recruit, preserving original file names and content types.