Moving your ATS data to Simply, with personal support

Years of candidate records can make switching ATS feel harder than choosing one. You know which CVs and client conversations matter. You may be less sure about the old custom fields, inconsistent statuses and duplicate company records that have accumulated alongside them. Who sorts that out, and what will it cost?

At Simply, we work through the migration with you. You export your data from your current ATS or CRM, then we review what it contains, decide together what you want to keep and identify where a clean-up would help. We advise on the setup and prepare the migration. Simply’s assisted data migration is temporarily free.

You don’t need to arrive with a perfect import file or design your new database alone. Start with the data you have and the work your agency needs it to support.

What makes an ATS migration feel difficult?

Downloading a file is only the beginning. You also want to know whether the export includes the documents you need, whether notes will stay with the right candidate and what to do with statuses that mean different things to different recruiters.

Cost is another concern. It’s reasonable to want a clear picture of the migration work and the time your own team will need to contribute. An import that looks simple at first can leave plenty of questions if nobody checks the contents beforehand.

We begin by looking at your database and how you work. That gives us a chance to discuss the setup and any clean-up before we move the data into Simply, while there’s still time to make sensible choices.

How we prepare your move to Simply

Bring an export from your current system

Start with the available export and tell us which information your team uses. That might include candidates, companies, contacts, jobs, notes and documents. It doesn’t need to answer every question straight away; we’ll review it together.

If something you need is missing, such as attachments or the links between candidates and jobs, we’ll discuss what else you need to request from your current supplier. Simply can only transfer information that’s available. It’s better to find those gaps at the start.

Decide together what belongs in the new database

Moving systems is a useful opportunity to look at fields your team no longer uses. It may also reveal records that need attention, such as a client company entered under several slightly different names.

You know what the information means to your agency. We help translate that into a workable setup in Simply and advise where cleaning up would help. Together, we agree what to bring across and how to handle anything uncertain.

What we find in the export	What we’ll discuss with you
Fields nobody fills in any more	Does your team still need them?
Several names for the same stage	Can we make the meaning clearer before importing?
Possible duplicate candidates or companies	Which information belongs together, and which records should stay separate?
Old records and documents	What do you want, and have grounds, to retain for your current work?
Links between candidates, jobs and clients	How should recruiters find that context in Simply?

For example, imagine an agency with fields labelled ‘discipline’, ‘specialism’ and ‘sector’. They could overlap, or they could capture useful distinctions. Looking at a few records together helps us understand which it is before deciding how they should appear in the new system. This is an illustrative example, not a customer case study.

We prepare the setup and migration

Once we’ve agreed what you want to bring across, we prepare the migration around that decision. Simply’s adaptable data model lets us consider the fields and relationships your agency needs. In your ATS and CRM, that means making sense of the connections recruiters use: a candidate linked to the right job, a contact linked to the right company, and relevant context where your team expects to find it.

There are two ways to move the data. Our migration team handles the import for you. If you’d rather do it yourself, you set up your workspace together with Simply Ask and import your data with our CSV importer. The route depends on your files, the intended setup and your requirements for data processing.

Review the result using familiar records

You don’t need to interpret a technical import log to check whether your recruiters can work with the result. Pick some familiar examples with us: an active candidate, a client with several contacts or a job with multiple applicants.

Can you find the information you need? Are documents and notes attached to the right record? Do fields and statuses still mean what you expect? We work through anything that needs attention before completing the move. Your everyday work gives that review a practical basis.

Choose the right level of support

With the assisted migration, Simply reviews your export with you, advises on the setup and prepares the data. You don’t need to become a migration specialist to use that support.

If you’d prefer to import records yourself, there’s a CSV importer. That can suit a file that’s already well organised when you know how its contents should fit into your workspace. We’ll discuss which approach makes sense for your situation; you don’t have to settle every technical detail before speaking to us.

You stay in control of AI too: in Simply you decide which data AI may process. MCP connects tools with an AI assistant; it isn’t something you must use to become a customer or move your database.

What does the data migration cost?

Simply’s assisted data migration is free for a limited time. We help assess what should move, advise on the setup and prepare the migration. This makes it easier to take a database built over several years into a new workspace with support from our team.

The offer covers data migration; your Simply subscription is separate. At the start, we’ll discuss what your export contains. Check with your current supplier whether they charge for an export.

Your team’s knowledge still matters. Allow time to make decisions about the data and review the result. A recruiter who uses a field every day can often explain quickly why it should stay or what needs to change.

What helps the move progress?

You don’t need to inspect every old record before contacting us. Bring an initial export or an outline of the information you can obtain. We can use that to agree the next step together.

Choose a colleague who can gather the team’s input and help settle decisions about the setup. It also helps to describe what’s frustrating you now. Perhaps candidates are hard to find, client information is scattered or statuses no longer tell anyone what’s happening. Those problems give the migration a useful focus.

Timing depends on the export, the clean-up involved and the setup you want. Reviewing those points early helps us work towards a clear plan and deal with questions before the final import.

Read about moving to Simply or book a conversation. Tell us which ATS or CRM you use today and which information you need to keep. We’ll take it from there together.