Migrate from Sympa to Bullhorn ATS & CRM

Sympa Employee records map to Bullhorn Candidate as the primary record type. We map Employee ID to Bullhorn candidateID, firstName and lastName to the standard name fields, employmentStartDate to a custom date field (since Bullhorn Candidate has hireDate and terminationDate fields scoped to placements, not general employment), and employmentStatus to a custom picklist field capturing active, on_leave, and terminated states. Where the migration also serves a client-facing CRM function, we create parallel Contact records for individuals who appear in both an HR capacity and a client or vendor capacity, using a custom field employeeSourceID__c to link the two records and avoid duplication.

Sympa stores org units and department hierarchies with parent-child relationships. Bullhorn does not have a native org chart object; department and division information lives on the Corporation record or requires a custom object. We map each Sympa Org Unit to a Bullhorn Corporation record when the unit represents a legal employer entity, and to a custom Department object (linked to Corporation via a lookup) when it represents an internal cost center or team. Reporting chain information (manager relationships) migrates as a custom managerID__c field on the Candidate record, populated by resolving the manager's Employee ID to a Bullhorn User or to the manager's Candidate record.

Sympa stores salary, bonus, and equity records as effective-dated entries per Employee. Bullhorn has no standard compensation object on Candidate. We create a custom Compensation Record object with fields for effectiveDate, baseSalary, bonusAmount, equityGrant, and currency, linked to the Candidate via a lookup relationship. If Bullhorn Enterprise is in use, we use one of the ten available custom objects for this; if Bullhorn ATS (capped at two custom objects) is the destination, we store the most recent compensation record as a set of custom fields on the Candidate object and document the full compensation timeline for manual re-entry or a payroll integration setup.

Sympa tracks accrued time-off balances per Employee per leave type as snapshot values. Bullhorn ATS does not have a native time-off or PTO object. We assess whether the destination Bullhorn edition has a Bullhorn Time & Expense module (a separate product formerly myPeopleNet) that handles PTO tracking. If so, we document the time-off balance import requirements for that module. If not, we migrate the most recent balance values as custom fields on the Candidate record (e.g., vacationBalance__c, sickBalance__c) and flag for the customer's admin that accrual rules must be configured manually post-migration. Accrued balances are point-in-time snapshots and cannot be reconciled against accrual rules during migration.

Sympa records job title changes, department transfers, and manager updates as effective-dated events per Employee. Bullhorn Candidate has a title field and a employmentHistory custom field, but no native employment history object. For short tenure histories (fewer than five role changes per employee), we store the most recent role as the standard title field and previous roles in a custom multi-line text field or a custom Employment History object. For complex histories, we create a custom object linked to Candidate to preserve the full chronological sequence.

Sympa HRMS assigns roles and permissions to Users who may or may not map 1:1 to Employee records. We distinguish between Sympa users who are HR administrators (mapped to Bullhorn User records with Admin usertype), users who are employees without system access (mapped to Candidate only, no Bullhorn User), and users who are recruiters or staffing managers (mapped to Bullhorn User with appropriate role). Bullhorn role and permission settings require manual configuration post-migration; we provide a role mapping document listing each Sympa role and its recommended Bullhorn permission set.

Sympa allows administrators to create custom fields on Employee and related objects without schema governance controls. We audit every custom field during scoping by requesting a full custom field export from the customer's Sympa tenant. Each custom field is then mapped to a Bullhorn custom field on the appropriate entity (Candidate, Contact, Corporation, Job, Placement) or to a custom object if Bullhorn's 55-field limit per entity is reached. Bullhorn ATS editions impose different custom object caps: Bullhorn ATS Growth has zero, Bullhorn ATS has two, and Front Office Growth and Enterprise have ten. We confirm the destination edition during scoping and adjust the mapping strategy accordingly.

Employee documents such as contracts, certifications, and compliance records attach to Employee records in Sympa. We migrate file attachments and map them to Bullhorn's FileAttachments linked to the corresponding Candidate record. Bullhorn supports file uploads via its REST API with a 25 MB per-file limit. We validate that all source document types (PDF, DOCX, image formats) are supported by Bullhorn's file preview, and we flag any file that exceeds the size limit for manual handling. Where Sympa stores document metadata (issue date, expiry date, document type), we map these to custom fields on the FileAttachment or to a custom document metadata object.

If the Sympa tenant includes a recruitment or job posting module, open positions migrate to Bullhorn JobOrder records. We map jobTitle to title, jobDescription to description, employmentType to employmentType, and location to address. Sympa job categories map to Bullhorn categories using a lookup table built during scoping. Job status (open, filled, closed) maps to Bullhorn JobOrder status values. Candidate applications attached to Sympa job postings migrate as CandidateSubmission records in Bullhorn, preserving the candidate-to-job relationship.

Sympa leave request records represent historical time-off approvals. Bullhorn ATS does not have a leave request object. We migrate leave request records as entries in a custom Leave Request object or as rows in a structured custom text field on the Candidate record, capturing leaveType, startDate, endDate, status, and approvalDate. We flag that active leave request workflows from Sympa do not migrate to Bullhorn, and that the customer should configure leave request approval processes in Bullhorn or in a separate HR system post-migration.

Sympa may store benefit enrollment information (health plan, dental, retirement contribution rates) per Employee. Bullhorn ATS has no benefits enrollment object. We map active benefit enrollments to custom fields on the Candidate record (benefitPlan__c, retirementContributionRate__c, etc.) and store historical enrollment records as a custom Benefits History object if Bullhorn Enterprise is the destination and a custom object slot is available. We document benefit enrollment data that cannot be mapped as a CSV export for the customer's benefits administrator to reconcile.

Where Sympa's recruitment module is in use, candidate profiles stored in Sympa migrate to Bullhorn Candidate records directly. We map candidate name, email, phone, and address to Bullhorn's standard Candidate fields. Work history and education from Sympa migrate to Bullhorn's custom2 and custom3 fields or to a custom Work History object. Skills and competencies stored as custom fields in Sympa map to Bullhorn skillCustomText fields or to a custom Skills object. Candidate status in Sympa maps to a custom picklist reflecting the customer's recruitment pipeline stages.