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Selecting the right applicant tracking system (ATS) and investing in exceptional technology is just the beginning of the journey. As any TA leader who has navigated an HR tech rollout knows, the ROI you expect to achieve does not depend on the technology alone.
Instead, the success of your new platform is largely influenced by the business process—specifically, how smoothly you and your ATS partner handle the entire implementation. While there are different approaches to this process, the outer framework remains the same across most implementations.
Before you flip the switch on a new system, here are the foundational ground rules and 10 best practices to ensure your ATS implementation is seamless, adopted widely, and built for long-term scale.
The 5 Ground Rules of HR Tech Implementation
Before diving into the tactical steps, you and your solution provider must align on a few thumb rules:
- Operate as a Single Unit: Build one team for the project. It shouldn't be a "client team" versus a "partner team"—it must be one cohesive unit.
- Expand the Room: Go beyond IT and recruitment leadership. You must involve key decision-makers and the actual end-users who are affected by the change.
- Minimize Friction: People adapt to change better when there is less friction. Identify ways to eliminate unnecessary processes, evolve, and retain work, strictly in that order.
- Phase Your Approach: You get to the moon one rocket stage at a time. Build a detailed roadmap that is divided into multiple phases.
- Plan for the Future: Remember, go-live is just the beginning. Adopt quarterly reviews to plan the ongoing evolution of the system.
The 10 Best Practices for ATS Implementation
If you want to make the deployment process better, faster, and simpler, follow these 10 steps.
1. Evaluate Your Current System Brutally
Your current recruitment system will form the basis for the new recruitment system. If there are issues or bottlenecks in your current recruitment processes, note them down immediately so they can be addressed either before or during the implementation phase.
2. Focus on Problems, Not Features
It is easy to get distracted by shiny new features, but you must spend more time on problem definition—focusing on the "why" and "what" rather than the "how". Do not jump into solution design without deeply understanding the problem at hand.
3. Create a Flexible Plan
Drafting an implementation plan will give you a rough idea of the time and resources required for the project. However, be flexible about your plan, as many unexpected things will pop up as the project unfolds. When they do, quickly move those non-critical items to subsequent phases.
4. Define Your Project Risks Early
Proactively define any potential roadblocks your team may anticipate so you can address them head-on. Common risks include cost overruns, competing priorities, internal reorganization, or resistance to change among key users.
5. Lock In Key People and Roles
Capture requirements from all user groups and identify the actual end-users of the system to avoid costly design flaws. Furthermore, clearly define roles for the implementation project before you begin. Make sure everyone knows exactly what they are responsible for delivering and when.
6. Identify Your Internal Advocates
There should be one person in every department who knows your goals with the new system and is passionate about promoting its benefits more than anyone else. Identify and leverage these advocates to reinforce communication, help answer questions, and promote enthusiasm for your ATS within those business functions.
7. Provide Comprehensive Training
Implementation is a collaborative effort between your ATS vendor and your organization. Because an ATS has a number of "moving parts" and functionalities, proper implementation must include comprehensive training provided to your team.
8. Avoid "Garbage In, Garbage Out"
Data cleansing is never fun, but you must retain focus. Teams must be ruthless in making decisions so that only the right, clean data flows in and out of the new system.
9. Build a Success Measurement Plan
Define exactly what a successful implementation means in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Once defined, lay out a clear plan detailing how frequently these success metrics will be evaluated.
10. Define Your Go-Live Communication Plan
Don't let the launch catch your company off guard. Define your specific approach for communicating the rollout with key stakeholders, including executive leadership, HR leadership, recruiters, and hiring managers.
Bonus Tip: Protect the Candidate Experience
As you configure the back-end workflows for your recruiters, do not neglect the front-end experience for your applicants.
- Build a great career page: Your career page is the gateway to your organization. Ensure it provides relevant information to prospective candidates and makes them feel elated to be part of your organization's journey.
- Promote transparency at each stage: Show that you care about the candidate's experience by maintaining constant communication. Providing feedback at each stage establishes trust and builds a strong relationship.
- Leverage mobile and social: While assessing your ATS solution, evaluate the candidate experience closely. Remember that 90% of candidates use a mobile phone. Additionally, check for the ability to easily share your jobs on social networks, since that is where most of your prospective candidates are present.
Preparing for a major HR Tech deployment?
Don't lose these best practices. Download the clean, shareable PDF version of this guide to distribute to your IT teams, hiring managers, and implementation partners.
👉 [Download the ATS Implementation Playbook Here]
Learn more at www.ripplehire.com.
Frequently Asked Questions: ATS Implementation
Q: Does buying top-tier ATS technology guarantee a good ROI?
A: No. While investing in exceptional technology is the first step, the ROI you achieve is largely influenced by your business processes and how smoothly your team and the ATS partner handle the implementation.
Q: Who should be involved in an ATS implementation team?
A: You must go beyond just IT and recruitment leadership. A successful rollout requires involving key decision-makers as well as the actual end-users who will be affected by the system changes. Building a single, unified team between your company and your vendor is critical.
Q: How should we handle historical data during a new ATS rollout?
A: Avoid a "garbage in, garbage out" scenario. Data cleansing is essential. Teams must be ruthless in their data migration decisions to ensure that only accurate, clean data flows into the new system.
Q: What is the most important factor for candidate experience in an ATS?
A: Mobile accessibility is paramount, as 90% of candidates use a mobile phone during their job search. Furthermore, promoting transparency by maintaining constant communication and providing feedback at each stage builds necessary trust with applicants.
Q: What happens after the ATS "go-live" date?
A: Go-live is just the beginning. Best practice dictates that you adopt quarterly reviews to plan the continued evolution of the system and ensure you are consistently evaluating your pre-defined qualitative and quantitative success metrics.
