Applicant tracking system
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of corporate recruitment needs. A corporate career site or website module may be offered, allowing companies to provide opportunities to internal candidates prior to external recruitment efforts. Candidates may be identified via preexisting data or through information garnered through other means. This data is typically stored for search and retrieval processes
The proposed benefit of an applicant tracking system is analyzing and coordinating recruitment efforts - managing the conceptual structure known as Human Capital.
Applicant Tracking Systems may also be referred to as a TMS (Talent Management System) and/or Talent Platform and are often provided via a application service provider or software as a service (SaaS) model. The level of service and cost can vary greatly across providers. In the United Kingdom, this is often referred to as managed service delivery. The cost for these systems ranges from free applications to multi-million dollar comprehensive integrated solutions with annual contractual obligations. The cost is somewhat dependent on the number of users, Service Level Agreement SLA, degree of integration, and feature set. Training, appropriate reporting metrics, and development are primary concerns for providers.
The first open source Applicant Tracking System (CATS) opened in 2006 under a modified Mozilla Public License and moved to a closed source model in 2008, it is now available within the SaaS model. In true open source tradition however, the users have continued the project themselves.