SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting to SmartRecruiters: preparing your migration

SAP presents SmartRecruiters as its preferred recruitment solution. For organisations currently using SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, this strategic direction raises several questions: when should the transition be considered, what elements need to be migrated, and what changes should be anticipated within the HR information system?

The answer naturally depends on each organisation's specific context. Organisational complexity, the level of centralisation, the maturity of recruitment processes, available resources and dependence on the SAP ecosystem are all parameters that must be taken into consideration.

The transition to SmartRecruiters also extends beyond technical teams. It affects HRIS leaders, Talent Acquisition teams, recruiters, hiring managers and, ultimately, candidates themselves. For this reason, preparation must address technical, functional and human dimensions alike.

One of the first topics to assess concerns the integration between SmartRecruiters, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding.

Several data flows enable information to move between these environments.

Synchronisation of users and organisational data

Users managed in SAP SuccessFactors can be synchronised with SmartRecruiters. This synchronisation enables managers, recruiters and employees with access to internal mobility opportunities to be identified within the solution.

Organisational data can also be transferred to SmartRecruiters. This may include legal entities, departments, divisions or other organisational objects used to structure the organisation.

This integration helps maintain a consistent master data framework across solutions. However, it requires organisations to determine precisely which information should circulate and which system serves as the system of record for each data element. In many cases, Employee Central will retain this role, although some information may also be managed directly within SmartRecruiters.

From an Employee Central position to a job requisition

When a position is created and approved in Employee Central, a recruitment requisition can be initiated in SmartRecruiters.

Data associated with the position, such as its identifier, title or organisational attributes, can automatically populate the requisition draft. The information transferred depends on the mapping defined during the integration design phase.

This automation reduces duplicate data entry and supports continuity between workforce planning and recruitment processes. It does not, however, remove the need for design decisions. Organisations must still determine which data is relevant for recruitment purposes and how it should be used in the target solution.

From hired candidate to onboarding

The flow also works in the opposite direction. When a candidate is marked as hired in SmartRecruiters, their data can be validated and then transferred to SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding in order to initiate the onboarding journey.

Information collected during recruitment and onboarding can subsequently be used to prepare employee creation in Employee Central. If the organisation does not use Onboarding, a direct hiring scenario into Employee Central may also be considered.

The objective is to ensure continuity throughout the process, from the initial recruitment requirement through to the new employee's arrival in the HR system.

Within SmartRecruiters, part of the integration framework is centralised through Integration Hub. This environment enables organisations to configure mappings and automate a number of data exchanges between SmartRecruiters and SAP SuccessFactors.

This approach avoids the need to rebuild every interface through bespoke development. However, the connector does not make decisions on behalf of the organisation.

Before any configuration work begins, several questions must be addressed:

• Which data should flow between the solutions?
• Which system owns each data element?
• Which fields need to be synchronised?
• Which values and dependencies are genuinely required?
• What controls should be applied?
• How will changes to master data be governed?

Technical integration facilitates execution. Blueprint design, process mapping and data governance remain fundamental project activities.

Field synchronisation represents one of the main areas of attention identified during the early experiences presented in the webinar.

At first glance, transferring a field from Employee Central to SmartRecruiters may appear straightforward. In reality, however, the creation and synchronisation of fields have long-term implications for the target data model. Certain modifications may become more constrained once the fields have been implemented.

It is therefore essential to carry out an inventory exercise beforehand:

1. Is the field genuinely useful to the recruitment process?
2. Do all values need to be transferred?
3. Are its dependencies still relevant?
4. Is it retained only to support a historical requirement?
5. Could the information be leveraged differently for reporting purposes?

Without this rationalisation effort, organisations risk carrying years of accumulated complexity from their previous environment into SmartRecruiters. The preferred approach is to synchronise only the data that delivers real value to the recruitment process.

Both solutions address the same overall objective, managing recruitment, but they are built on different philosophies. Understanding these differences is essential before defining the target model.

1. A different permissions model

SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting uses a highly granular permissions model based on roles and groups. A user can belong to multiple groups and benefit from several different roles.

In SmartRecruiters, the approach presented during the webinar is more global. Users are assigned a system role, while their group primarily determines their visibility scope. SmartRecruiters permissions are therefore managed directly within SmartRecruiters rather than through SAP SuccessFactors Role-Based Permissions (RBP).

A detailed analysis of roles and responsibilities is essential to avoid automatically transferring a permissions model designed for a different solution.

2. More standardised recruitment processes

Within SuccessFactors Recruiting, requisition templates, application templates and recruitment workflows are tightly linked and can be configured in considerable detail.

SmartRecruiters encourages the use of templates based on the nature of the recruitment need. For example, an organisation may define a common recruitment process for a specific type of role, contract type or employee population.

This approach can support greater harmonisation of practices. However, it requires organisations to assess carefully which differences between countries, business units or recruitment categories are genuinely necessary.

3. A more dynamic user interface

SmartRecruiters allows certain fields to appear according to the context of the requisition and makes it easier to adapt which information is displayed.

This approach provides greater flexibility than models in which all fields are predetermined during the initial configuration phase.

Provided that governance remains consistent, this flexibility can contribute to more user-friendly forms that are better adapted to different recruitment scenarios.

4. More extensive automation

Automations can be triggered according to a candidate's progression through the recruitment process. Their aim is to reduce repetitive tasks and eliminate friction for recruitment teams.

The webinar also referenced the development of agents capable of suggesting or executing certain actions with user approval.

These developments reinforce the importance of maintaining reliable, structured and appropriately governed data.

5. Built-in collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers

One of SmartRecruiters' distinguishing characteristics is its collaborative dimension.

In many organisations, exchanges between recruiters and hiring managers remain scattered across the ATS, email conversations and Teams messages. SmartRecruiters seeks to centralise more of these interactions directly within the recruitment platform.

This centralisation should improve collaboration while enhancing control over candidate-related information and compliance with data protection requirements.

The Career Site Builder is expected to remain supported.

Organisations may therefore choose to retain their current URL, branding, SEO performance and user experience while connecting the careers site to SmartRecruiters.

The possibility of operating both SuccessFactors Recruiting and SmartRecruiters behind the same careers site also creates opportunities for phased deployment. One country, business unit or pilot population can adopt SmartRecruiters while others continue using SuccessFactors Recruiting temporarily.

For candidates, opportunities can remain accessible through a single entry point. For the organisation, this architecture makes it possible to test the solution and capture lessons learned before expanding deployment more broadly.

Migration Hub provides capabilities to analyse the source system and prepare the migration of selected configuration elements. It helps identify which objects can be included, excluded or mapped into SmartRecruiters.

However, it is important to distinguish between two different topics:

• Migration of configuration
• Migration of operational and historical data

Migration Hub addresses configuration migration.

Existing job requisitions, candidates, applications and historical records require a separate data migration strategy.

Organisations must decide which data should be transferred to the new ATS, which information should remain available in the legacy environment and which records can be archived.

This transition also provides an opportunity to cleanse and rationalise years of accumulated data.

To avoid reducing the initiative to a series of technical decisions, three distinct workstreams should be addressed.

Processes

Organisations must analyse how recruitment currently operates and define the desired future model.

Key questions include:

• Which workflows are genuinely essential?
• Which local variations need to be preserved?
• Which processes can be harmonised?
• Which historical constraints are no longer justified?
• Which pain points should be eliminated?

Data

The focus should be on the data required to support recruitment operations, HRIS integration, reporting requirements and future automation use cases.

Organisations must also define quality standards, ownership responsibilities, retention periods and rules governing access to historical information.

User experience

The transformation affects not only candidates, but also recruiters and hiring managers.

The project should identify current friction points and define the experience that the organisation wishes to provide to each stakeholder group in the future.

There is no universal approach to migrating to SmartRecruiters.

The Big Bang approach

A Big Bang strategy replaces the existing system across the entire scope in a single cutover.

This approach requires extensive preparation, a stabilised target model and an organisation capable of mobilising the necessary resources throughout the transition.

A phased deployment approach

Phased deployment may be better suited to decentralised or international organisations.

It enables an organisation to begin with a pilot country, division or user population, then refine the approach based on the lessons learned before extending the rollout further.

Active preparation

An organisation may also decide that it is not yet ready to launch the migration while still beginning preparation activities immediately.

This phase may include process mapping, field inventory exercises, data cleansing, role analysis and impact assessments related to user experience.

Taking time to prepare does not mean doing nothing. On the contrary, it helps secure future decisions and reduce project risk.

The combination of expertise in both SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and SmartRecruiters enables Arago to approach the transition from two complementary perspectives: understanding the current environment and designing a target model that is aligned with business needs.

Several support approaches were presented during the webinar.

Smart Ready

This approach is based on the activation of a pre-configured environment combined with training on solution usage and maintenance.

It is suited to organisations that wish to rely heavily on standard best practices and accelerate implementation through a predefined framework.

Smart Fast

Smart Fast combines a pre-configured foundation with a gap analysis between the delivered package and the organisation's expected processes.

Additional activities can then be incorporated into the project, including:

• Functional adaptations
• User training
• Integrations
• Data migration activities

This approach provides a balance between speed and customisation.

Activate

The Activate methodology corresponds to a fully tailored deployment.

It includes:

• Design workshops
• Multiple configuration and testing iterations
• Cutover preparation
• Deployment activities

The choice between these approaches depends on several factors, including organisational complexity, customisation requirements, process maturity and transformation ambitions.

Before making a final decision regarding the migration roadmap, Arago offers a Recruitment Flash Assessment designed to provide a clear view of the current situation.

This assessment helps organisations:

• Identify key pain points
• Highlight the most complex processes
• Understand technical dependencies
• Reveal improvement opportunities
• Evaluate the potential benefits of SmartRecruiters
• Define an appropriate transition strategy

The objective is not to systematically recommend an immediate migration.

Instead, the purpose is to provide the information required to make an informed decision based on facts rather than assumptions.

The transition from SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting to SmartRecruiters is a recruitment transformation initiative, not simply an application replacement project.

To fully realise its potential, organisations should avoid reproducing their existing processes, fields and constraints exactly as they exist today.

Instead, they should use this transition as an opportunity to:

• Rationalise data structures
• Harmonise recruitment practices
• Strengthen collaboration between stakeholders
• Improve governance
• Modernise the candidate experience
• Simplify operational processes

The priority is therefore not necessarily to migrate tomorrow.

The priority is to understand today what the transition will mean for the organisation and to begin preparing the most appropriate roadmap.