Bullhorn and spreadsheets, or Bullhorn and Mach 1?
Many staffing agencies run Bullhorn for recruiting and placements, while everything after the placement, the schedule, the credentials, the timesheets, the rates, runs on spreadsheets, texts, and paper. This is an honest look at that setup next to Bullhorn plus Mach 1, including where spreadsheets are still the right answer.
What you are doing now vs. Mach 1.
- The scheduleA spreadsheet or whiteboard outside the ATS. Changes travel by text and phone call.Shifts live on one schedule and are written back to the Bullhorn job and placement.
- Filling an open shiftA coordinator works down a call list until someone says yes.Qualified workers are screened and scored, offers go out in ranked waves, and workers accept on their phones.
- CredentialsExpiration dates tracked in a spreadsheet and checked by hand before a placement.Certifications sync both ways with Bullhorn and are checked at every assignment, against the shift date.
- Time capturePaper and emailed timesheets, hand-keyed and then re-checked against the paper.Geofenced clock-in on the app. Paper timesheets are read by AI and approved by a reviewer.
- Rates and overtimeRate sheets and formulas maintained per client, applied by whoever builds the invoice.Versioned, effective-dated rate cards per client, site, and job, with overtime classified by rule.
- Client approvalSigned paper, PDFs, and email threads.Timesheet approval and roster sign-off in the client portal.
- Knowing what you lostFound at month end, if someone goes looking.Demand, booked, and realized revenue, with capacity and execution leakage by site.
The left column describes the setup we most often see in the field, not the limits of Bullhorn itself.
What Mach 1 is not.
Not an ATS
Mach 1 does not source, track, or place candidates. Your ATS keeps doing that, and stays the system of record.
Not a payroll system
Mach 1 produces approved, correctly rated hours and exports them. Your payroll provider still runs payroll.
Not an instant switch
There is no clean go-live in the middle office. Real documents and real workflows expose things a demo never met. The measure is how fast the loop from break to fix closes.
For exactly what moves between the two systems, see the Bullhorn integration. For how engagements are scoped, see pricing.
Spreadsheets vs. Mach 1: common questions.
Do we have to stop using Bullhorn?
No. This is a comparison of what sits next to Bullhorn, not a replacement for it. Bullhorn stays the system of record for candidates, clients, jobs, and placements, and Mach 1 writes scheduled, booked, and worked shifts back to it.
When are spreadsheets good enough?
When the operation is small and stable: a handful of clients at one or two sites, shifts that rarely change, a short list of credentials, and one person who can hold the whole schedule in their head. Spreadsheets start to fail when shifts change daily, credentials gate placements, or more than one person edits the schedule.
What does moving off spreadsheets involve?
Mach 1 scopes each engagement to your stack. With Bullhorn, activation starts with a short support ticket on your side, then your clients, jobs, placements, candidates, and certifications import so you do not start from an empty system. Expect iteration in the first weeks as the system is fitted to how your team actually works.
Seen enough?
Bring one real week of your schedule and we will show you what it looks like in Mach 1.