PDS Vista vs. SmartRecruiters

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PDS Vista
Score 6.2 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Vista® is a human resource, benefits, payroll, recruiting, and self-service software. Functional elements include recruitment, staffing, position and training management, compliance, and performance and compensation.N/A
SmartRecruiters
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
SmartRecruiters’ Talent Acquisition Suite is a cloud-based recruitment marketing and collaborative hiring platform. It features an open marketplace for third party recruitment services. SmartRecruiters also offers talent sourcing and screening as add-on features.
$0
per month
Pricing
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Corporate
Varies, per FTE
Billed annually
Global
Varies, per FTE
Billed annually
SmartStart
Free
up to 10 active job postings
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee$1,000
Additional DetailsLicense pricing is based on the number of full and part-time active employees within bands (e.g. 751-1,000). SaaS pricing is based on PEPM.The software subscription is determined by the number of full time employees in your company. A one time cost to set up software, including customizations, integrations, data migration and training.
More Pricing Information
Features
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.7
18 Ratings
2% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration9.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management7.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)6.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
18 Ratings
0% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Pay calculation8.216 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.39 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.216 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.217 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.213 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.25 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.2
13 Ratings
2% above category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Approval workflow8.27 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.213 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.212 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.1
17 Ratings
13% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.216 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information7.314 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.38 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition7.25 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history5.84 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
7 Ratings
6% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets7.37 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
8.0
16 Ratings
5% above category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Report builder8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data8.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
1 Ratings
9% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
New hire portal7.31 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
5.8
2 Ratings
34% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting5.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting5.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking6.42 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
7.3
4 Ratings
8% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.31 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking7.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders7.23 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
3.6
1 Ratings
75% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools3.61 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking3.61 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search3.61 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development3.61 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
PDS Vista
2.5
3 Ratings
102% below category average
SmartRecruiters
8.3
127 Ratings
4% above category average
Job Requisition Management3.13 Ratings9.2109 Ratings
Company Website Posting3.13 Ratings9.7114 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention1.92 Ratings7.9114 Ratings
Applicant Tracking2.33 Ratings9.3126 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts2.02 Ratings9.3119 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.6112 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings8.1116 Ratings
Customized Application Form00 Ratings8.6104 Ratings
Resume Management00 Ratings7.8119 Ratings
Candidate Search00 Ratings8.4122 Ratings
Collaboration00 Ratings8.2117 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation00 Ratings9.197 Ratings
Email Templates00 Ratings8.5114 Ratings
User Permissions00 Ratings8.8109 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings4.6105 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Recruit CRM
Recruit CRM
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
Vibe HCM
Vibe HCM
Score 4.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(23 ratings)
7.8
(129 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(7 ratings)
6.0
(15 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(2 ratings)
9.1
(12 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(3 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(12 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
PDS VistaSmartRecruiters
Likelihood to Recommend
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
As Vista HRMS is fully customizable to suit your needs, a company should determine if they have a current employee who can do the work themselves otherwise they will need to consider the additional cost of asking PDS to do the customizations for them. There are additional modules that we aren't currently making use of, but each company should learn about the functionality of each of them as some may be more beneficial than others. When gathering your questions, ask all potential users of the system what they would want to see in an HRMS. We did so before selecting Vista HRMS and we got pages and pages of questions and comments and made sure that each item was addressed beforehand and was something that we would be able to incorporate into the system. You have the option of taking the system in house or being a hosted client. Make sure you figure out what resources your IT department has available. If you have a dedicated administrator who will do all the upgrades and enhancements great, otherwise you may need PDS to help out and having PDS host may be a better option
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
SmartRecruiters has allowed us to enable our hiring managers to self-service their requirements for recruitment, simplifying our internal processes. We have visibility of recruitment requirements and significantly improved our approvals process using the software. We have been able to configure our hiring processes relevant to different areas of the business. Collaboration for our hiring teams (managers and business partners) is simple and effective. Candidate experience is enhanced and engaging. The platform has brought many benefits to our Resourcing business partners and hiring managers. We have visibility and insightful data which has integrity, allowing us to make informed business decisions. Our offer process has seen significant improvements and provides an engaging candidate experience, previously this was a labour-intensive process that is now streamlined and automated. The recently launched Community for collaboration amongst customers is very helpful and insigtful for how other people are using the software and exploring ideas with each other
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Pros
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Vista HRMS is very flexible, it does everything we need for HR, benefits and payroll. It’s user-friendly and intuitive to use, when we roll out new self-service items our employees have no problems and require minimal training or documentation.
  • PDS has excellent customer service and support. We get answers to the majority of our questions and problems quickly, within the day that we call. More complex issues that may require PDS’ technical support are usually addressed within a few days. We were upgrading our production servers to Windows 2012 over a weekend and a key person in our organization was on leave. When we checked with PDS to see what cost would be involved if we needed their help, they said it was included in our regular maintenance, no extra cost.
  • The PDS User’s Conference is an excellent learning opportunity for training on everything Vista does, including using Crystal Reports for custom reporting. You also get to meet and talk to the executive and development staff and have direct input into the future product development.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
  • Job Referrals - can easily refer others to a job posting and view the status
  • Job Postings - can easily search for job openings and read job description and criteria
  • Application online - Can easily apply for the job directly and see who the hiring manager and hiring recruiter is
Read full review
Cons
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Typical of any system built for the unknown requirements of hundreds or thousands of customers with varying needs, PDS sometimes doesn't fit our processes precisely out of the box. However, this con is far outweighed by the ability to configure and customize the system.
  • The most significant pet peeve of our users is the necessity for so many clicks to navigate between different areas or the system or to review applicants. These items are being addressed based on feedback from the user community in an upcoming release.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
  • Settings page can be difficult to navigate & find what you're looking for
  • Job approval chains would be better with additional qualifying fields so that we can segregate different areas of the business better
  • The ability to edit an existing offer template in-system would improve the experience, rather than having to edit offline and upload a whole new version.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
I feel so invested in Vista HRMS that I don't really want to try other options. I know we as an organization are not using this product to it's full potential and that is just due to us lacking the resources to be able to invest the time into breaking it apart and making it work to the best ability for us. The system works great as is, but there are a lot of implementations we can put into place to help us out even more. For example, we would love to start using Workflow to create more efficiencies. I personally have a very good relationship with our hosted vendor who supports Vista HRMS and can help me with any issues and concerns, this is a big part of the reason that I would renew with this product and continue to be an advocate for Vista HRMS.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
I thoroughly enjoy using SmartRecruiters and have shared this feedback with those responsible, however I am not a decision maker in the process. I understand that at the moment there are lots of factors affecting the economy and business outcomes, so I cannot comment with certainty on the renewal of SmartRecruiters at this time, not involved in the confirmation of renewal.
Read full review
Usability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
The interface is intuitive, even if it does require some extra clicks to get to where you are going. The screens are consistently designed and formatted. There is a logical flow and organization to the application layout and menuing systems.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
I would give this rating as overall it a great combo of all your problems. With just one click you can get away with all your problems such as recruitment, candidate update, Interview scheduling, updating candidates, reports of a job perspective, and recruiters perspective. Usability is worth of SmartRecruiters. The dashboard is also very attractive and once you open you will love working on this platform again and again. I would say it is the best platform to use once for smooth work in your organization.
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Reliability and Availability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
SmartRecruiters
Rarely is there an issue and if the product is down, it typically is restored quickly.
Read full review
Performance
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
SmartRecruiters
I have no complaints about performance. The system works virtually flawless.
Read full review
Support Rating
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
PDS has excellent customer service and support. We get answers to the
majority of our questions and problems quickly, within the day that we
call. More complex issues that may require PDS’ technical support are
usually addressed within a few days
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
Response is normally very fast. There are times, however, when the response is not useful. It is difficult to work with the reporting and the offer letter templates, and the front line support agents usually are not very knowledgeable. Second, if there are any issues with integrations, the regular support agents will not be able to help you. You'll have to create that ticket and ask them to escalate it to an integration specialist.
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In-Person Training
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
SmartRecruiters
Quick and easy to learn.
Read full review
Online Training
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
The resources and online tools that PDS provide are extremely thorough and helpful in our training and learning.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
Ask lots of questions, ensure you fully understand the functionality (particularly history records) and train, train, train the users for correct and complete utilization of the system.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
It really was a painless and easy process to switch to SmartRecruiters.
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Alternatives Considered
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
I've used Peoplesoft HCM in the past. The products have some similarities, but they are marketed to different sized companies, so it's a bit of apples to oranges. Peoplesoft was very complex and challenging to manage and support. Vista HRMS should require fewer technical resources and still provide robust features for HR and Payroll. We selected Vista HRMS because it met the majority of our requirements and was priced to enable us to purchase and implement it within our budget. Also, it's an integrated system (although not truly one system when you count Vista Time) which is an improvement over our current state.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
I've really enjoyed using SmartRecruiters, but these other ATSs that we've checked out offer better reporting features and price points. Over time, we may be transitioning off of SmartRecruiters to one of these ATSs because the price is a set price where SmartRecruiters has employee-based pricing model. Also, these other software products offer better reporting features that would eliminate some of our manual tracking process that we're currently doing.
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Scalability
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
No answers on this topic
SmartRecruiters
No explanation really, just a great product.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Personnel Data Systems (PDS)
  • Positive impact would definitely be self-service for both employees and managers to view and update selected data.
  • Through some analytics our managers are able to track turnover for their site/department by many criteria (length of service, reason, etc) and can view a number of other analytical reports such as headcount and demographics which help them to make informed decisions about their department.
Read full review
SmartRecruiters
  • In terms of ROI, SR helped our business greatly in returning precious time to my productivity in business management, as well as my team's, so that we could get back to the main work we were hired for. The SR process did most of the heavy lifting.
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ScreenShots

SmartRecruiters Screenshots

Screenshot of A candidate experience to  reach, engage, and connect with talent wherever they are.Screenshot of Engaged hiring managers empowered by collaboration tools and applicant tracking to drive better hiring decisions.Screenshot of Digital offer management, onboarding, and reporting deliver a seamless journey for new hires and recruiters.Screenshot of SmartRecruiters eases the burden of juggling multiple open roles and hiring large volumes.Screenshot of Frees up hiring teams to focus on making great hires and delivering a better candidate experience by automating routine tasks.Screenshot of Find and discover qualified talent while getting the most from the advertising budget.