greytHR to Keka Migration

MIGRATION OVERVIEW

Why teams migrate from greytHR to Keka

The core problem

Migrating from greytHR to Keka has no native export-import path; all data must be extracted, transformed, and loaded using a combination of greytHR's REST API v2, Query Builder UI exports, and manual report downloads before being ingested into Keka via Excel bulk import templates and the Keka API. The fundamental data model difference is structural: greytHR organizes employees around statutory compliance categories such as PF establishment and ESI branch, while Keka enforces a strict business-entity hierarchy of Legal Entity, Pay Group, and Salary Structure (CTC Template) that must be fully configured before any employee records can be loaded. Custom transformation work is required to consolidate greytHR's ad-hoc, per-employee salary component configurations into Keka's standardized CTC Templates, and to accurately reconstruct Year-to-Date payroll figures so that Keka calculates TDS correctly from the migration cutover date forward. A strict load sequence — Org configuration, then Pay Groups, then Employees, then Salary Structures, then Leave balances, then YTD data — is mandatory to avoid referential integrity failures.

Why this matters for your migration

KEY CHALLENGES

What makes this migration complex

These are the architectural mismatches and technical hurdles specific to a greytHR to Keka migration.

Most Critical

No Native Migration Path

greytHR and Keka have no direct export-import compatibility, requiring all data to be extracted via a combination of the greytHR REST API v2, Query Builder UI exports, and manual report downloads, then transformed before loading into Keka's bulk import templates.

Blocks all downstream imports if mapped wrong

Salary Structure Consolidation

greytHR allows ad-hoc, per-employee salary component customization, while Keka requires all employees to be assigned to a standardized organizational-level CTC Template, necessitating manual analysis and consolidation of potentially hundreds of unique component configurations.

YTD Payroll Data Accuracy

Mid-year migrations require month-by-month extraction and transformation of Year-to-Date earnings, deductions, and tax exemption data from greytHR so that Keka can correctly calculate TDS for the remainder of the financial year from the cutover date.

Statutory Configuration Re-mapping

greytHR binds PF and ESI statutory settings directly to employees via PF Establishment and ESI Branch entities, whereas Keka ties these statutory configurations to Pay Groups, requiring a complete re-architecture of statutory assignments before employee records can be imported.

greytHR API Coverage Gaps

Org configuration (leave policies, shift rules, approval workflows), custom fields, and bulk document downloads are not fully exposed via the greytHR REST API, forcing reliance on fragile UI-based exports and per-employee, per-category API calls to achieve complete data extraction.

Strict Load Sequence Dependency

Keka's referential integrity requires that Legal Entities, Locations, Departments, Pay Groups, and Salary Structures all exist in the system before employee records can be successfully imported, making load order a hard technical constraint that cannot be bypassed.

MIGRATION RISK ASSESSMENT

Every migration risk, already solved

Migration between platforms is full of edge cases. Our engineers have identified every risk from greytHR to Keka and built proven solutions for each one.

High complexity

Salary Structures (CTC Templates)

greytHR's per-employee ad-hoc component model must be manually consolidated into Keka's standardized CTC Templates, and any misconfigured percentage or formula rule will cause incorrect component breakdowns for all employees assigned to that template.

Solved
YTD Payroll Figures

Inaccurate or incomplete Year-to-Date earnings and deduction data will cause Keka to calculate TDS incorrectly for the remainder of the financial year, directly resulting in incorrect employee tax deductions and statutory filing mismatches.

Solved
Indian Statutory Identifiers (PF, ESI, PAN, UAN)

PF Account Numbers, UANs, PANs, and ESI numbers must be extracted from greytHR's statutory detail endpoints and remapped to Keka's Pay Group-based statutory configuration model with zero tolerance for error, as any mismatch will cause statutory filing failures.

Solved
Pay Group Configuration

Pay Groups are a Keka-native construct with no direct greytHR equivalent and must be manually designed and configured in Keka before any employee or salary data can be loaded, making errors in Pay Group setup a systemic risk that cascades to all dependent entities.

Solved
Recruitment and ATS Data

Candidate pipeline data from greytHR's recruitment module has no import path into Keka Hire and must be exported as CSV and manually reconstructed for active pipelines, with closed position records limited to document archival only.

Solved

Custom engineering

Employee Master Records

Core employee demographics map reasonably well between platforms, but fields such as Designation to Job Title require value-level remapping, and Reporting Manager references require managers to be imported before direct reports, adding sequencing complexity.

Handled
Leave Balances

Current accrued leave balances for Privilege Leave, Sick Leave, and Casual Leave must be extracted as point-in-time snapshots from greytHR and loaded into Keka's Leave Plan structure, which must be manually recreated as there is no direct import path for leave policy configuration.

Handled
Employee Documents

greytHR requires per-employee, per-category API calls to retrieve documents with no bulk download endpoint, and PDF files such as payslips and Form 16s must be manually matched back to employee IDs using file naming conventions before batch upload into Keka.

Handled
Historical Payroll Records

Reconstructing full payroll history from greytHR requires iterating the salary statement API endpoint across every pay period month by month, and the resulting data is not importable as structured historical records into Keka — only PDF payslips can be archived.

Handled

Clean transfer

Bank Details

Bank account numbers and IFSC codes are extractable via greytHR's Query Builder and map directly to Keka's employee bank detail fields, though care must be taken to validate IFSC codes against Keka's accepted format before bulk import.

Clean

What Our Customers Say

Real migration stories

Direct Review

“Fantastic at both guiding us through the process and helping us fix things as they come up and dial them in.”

Reviewed on G2

“The ease of the process and that ClonePartner was informing me what was going on at every step. If you're on the fence, do it. ClonePartner are great!”

Direct Review

“They were SO helpful. We had a few hiccups because our migration was in the middle of the process, but they were really flexible and did multiple delta migrations for us. We were able to map a lot of our old ticket data so it's usable for comparisons in the future.”

Direct Review

“Overall a great experience. We had to go back a few times to get everything just right, which was totally expected. The transition was smooth, and there was no data loss.”

Direct Review

“One of the easiest migrations I've ever been through. The team took care of everything — all our data, customer interactions and macros. The process was clear, straightforward and we felt supported all the way. An absolutely seamless experience for our support team and our customers.”

See all customer stories →

CUSTOM MIGRATION

Fully customizable engineer-led migration

Tailor your migration from greytHR to Keka exactly to your needs with our flexible customization options. Our experts will configure the perfect migration plan for your business.

Migration Filters

Data Types

ZERO DOWNTIME

Your timeline. Our engineers.

A dedicated engineer runs your migration, planned around your schedule and your data.

No babysitting a wizard. Avoid debugging errors yourself.

Looking for a more detailed migration timeline?

Contact our team

Speed

The migration timeline depends on both our turnaround time and yours.

We can complete a migration in under a day when the accounts are connected and the sample migration is approved promptly.

Background Sync

We also support migrating the newest records first, so you can go live faster while the rest of the data is synced in the background.

Data Volume Impact

Larger data volumes may require longer migration windows.

Continuous Operation

Weekend migrations minimize disruption to your customer service operations.

MIGRATION TIMELINE

Your greytHR to Keka migration, step by step

See how long your migration will take from start to finish. Drag the slider to estimate based on your data volume.

How many records are you migrating?

<10K 50K 100K 250K 500K 1M 2M 5M 10M+

Checklist ~3 days

Sample 1 day

Review ~2 days

Full 2 days

Delta 1 day

Your team ClonePartner

Estimated total

~9 business days

Migration Checklist

1 day · ClonePartner ~2 days · Your team

We prepare the optimal data mapping as a shareable spreadsheet. Your team reviews, approves, and adds any customizations.

Sample Migration

1 day · ClonePartner

We run a test migration with a representative sample of your data to verify mapping accuracy and identify any potential issues before the full run.

Review & Approve

~2 days · Your team

Your team reviews the sample migration results, confirms data accuracy and mapping, and gives the go-ahead for the full migration.

Full Migration

2 days · ClonePartner

We execute the complete migration of all your data to your new Keka, with real-time progress tracking and comprehensive logging.

Delta Migration

1 day · ClonePartner

We capture and transfer any new data that was added or updated during the main migration to ensure no data is lost. This final sync keeps everything current.

Pros and cons of different migration options

Choosing the right approach is key because migrating from greytHR to Keka isn't just about moving data – it's about protecting your people operations and employee experience.

Feature / Criteria	ClonePartner	Automated Tools	CSV Import	In-house migration
Custom Scripting for complex data	✓ Engineers build & maintain	✗ No	⚠ Manual	✓ Yes – but costly
Sandbox & Pilot Migrations	✓ Full sandbox + pilot plans	⚠ Limited	✗ No	⚠ Often Informal
Manual validation & reconciliation	✓ Automated + manual QA	✗ No	✓ Yes (Manual)	✓ Heavy manual effort
Backup & rollback plan	✓ Robust procedures	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Often incomplete
Handles automation and integrations	✓ Full support	⚠ Partial	✗ No	⚠ Possible but fragmented
Post-migration engineer support	✓ Dedicated engineers	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Limited payroll support
Adaptable to API changes	✓ Proactive adaptation	✗ No	⚠ Manual fixes	⚠ Slower response
Turnaround / payroll predictability	✓ Predictable payroll runs	⚠ Fast but brittle	⚠ Slow and manual	⚠ Often slower
Data Security & Compliance	✓ High – enterprise grade	⚠ Medium (depends)	⚠ Low (manual)	⚠ Hidden gaps common
Pricing predictability	✓ Transparent & fixed	⚠ Low (per-job)	⚠ Low (manual hours)	⚠ High/variable OPEX
End-to-end project management	✓ Full E2E delivery & PM	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Often partial
Business impact & opportunity cost	✓ No diversion of staff	✗ No	✗ No	⚠ Diverts engineering

What does an Engineer-led migration mean anyway?

Speed & Accuracy: Our Blended Method

We blend automation (smart scripts, bulk APIs) with human expertise for speed without risk. Our engineers manually check every mapping, validation, and exception.

You get:

Speed of automation for bulk record migration
Precision of engineers verifying integrity and business logic
Pilot migrations and sandbox testing to catch issues early
Real-time validation reports and rollback readiness

Result: 50x faster migrations than manual imports — with near-zero error rates.

Handling the Tricky Tech and API Details

The greytHR and Keka APIs each behave differently, which is where our engineers shine. We build custom logic to handle the data quirks where generic tools typically break.

We handcraft API logic for:

Field mapping and transformation
Pagination, rate-limit handling, and throttling
Preserving employee history, documents, and time-off records
Syncing custom fields, pay components, and org structure without breaking structure

Our scripts: Natively retry failed calls, re-queue large attachments, and ensure data parity.

No Guesswork

We don't just promise smooth migrations—we measure and prove them. Every client receives a Migration Validation Report with all metrics.

Typical results across projects:

100% record-count parity between your greytHR data and Keka
Zero downtime during staged cutovers
99.9% attachment integrity (verified via checksum)
Full automation and preservation of all business rules

Our standard: Includes full payroll and benefits preservation and 30 days of engineer-assigned support post go-live.

We Adapt to Your Setup (Not the Other Way Around)

No two teams configure greytHR or Keka exactly the same way—with unique pay structures and data. We customize every migration script to fit your exact workflow, pay components, and org structure.

Our engineers adapt for:

Custom fields, pay components, and workflows
Multi-entity or multi-location setups
Historical imports and partial (date-based) migrations
Integration re-mapping for payroll, SSO, or ATS tools

The promise: If your data doesn't fit a standard template, we build one just for you.

Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance

Your customer data is precious. Our migration process maintains the highest standards of security and regulatory compliance.

SOC 2 Type II

Independently audited compliance with rigorous security standards

ISO 27001

Certified information security management system

GDPR

Full compliance with EU data protection regulations

HIPAA

Certified for handling protected health information

AES-256 Encryption

Bank-grade encryption for all stored credentials

Latest TLS

Secure transfer protocol for all data in transit

Role-Based Access

We follow role-based access control for every migration project

Scheduled Deletion

Automatic data purging after migration completion

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about migrating from greytHR to Keka. Can't find what you're looking for? Talk to our team.

Can I migrate YTD payroll data from greytHR to Keka mid-year?

Yes. You must extract the YTD Payroll Register from greytHR (via the salary statement API or Reports Gallery) and import it into Keka before running your first payroll. This ensures Keka's engine calculates Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) correctly for the remainder of the financial year.

Can I export all my data from greytHR at once?

No. greytHR has no single 'Export All' function. You need to combine REST API v2 extraction (employees, leave, attendance, payroll), Query Builder reports (custom Excel exports), and the Reports Gallery (PDF/XLS downloads) to get a complete data set. Documents require per-employee, per-category API calls.

What is Keka's API rate limit?

Keka enforces a rate limit of 50 API requests per minute. Exceeding this returns a 429 error with 'rateLimitExceeded' reason. The quota auto-refills after 60 seconds. The default pagination size is 100 records per page, with a maximum of 200.

How long does a greytHR to Keka migration take?

Typically 2–6 weeks for 100–1,000 employees. The data migration itself can be completed in days, but a parallel payroll run — processing one month in both systems simultaneously and comparing results — takes a full pay cycle and is the real bottleneck.

When is the best time to migrate from greytHR to Keka?

The start of a financial year (April 1) or a quarter boundary (July 1, October 1, January 1). This avoids splitting Form 16 data and PF/ESI filings across two systems, and aligns with natural leave balance reset points.

How long does the greytHR to Keka migration take?

Most migrations complete within 1–5 business days, depending on data volume and complexity. We provide a detailed timeline after the initial assessment and can often complete small migrations in under 24 hours.

Will my team lose access to greytHR during the migration?

No. Your source system remains fully operational throughout the entire migration. We run the migration in the background with zero downtime to your current operations.

Will there be downtime when migrating from greytHR to Keka?

No. Our migration process is designed for zero downtime. We use a staged approach with background sync and a fast cutover, ensuring no disruption to your live business operations.

How do I validate that everything migrated correctly?

Every client receives a Migration Validation Report with comprehensive metrics including record-count parity, attachment integrity verification via checksum, and full audit logs. We also offer unlimited sample migrations so you can verify before committing.

Do I need professional help for this migration?

While simple migrations can sometimes be handled in-house, professional help ensures zero data loss, proper field mapping, and preservation of relationships between records. Our engineer-led approach catches edge cases that automated tools miss.

Does ClonePartner provide guidance before committing?

Yes. We provide a free consultation and assessment. We'll review your data structure, discuss your requirements, and provide a detailed migration plan and fixed-price quote before you commit to anything.

Still have questions?

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our migration engineers. We'll walk you through the exact approach for your greytHR→Keka migration.

Contact our team

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Attention to Detail

We meticulously handle every aspect of your migration, ensuring no data is lost during transfer and mapping every field correctly between platforms.

Custom Solutions

Every business is unique. We tailor your migration strategy to match your specific requirements, workflows, and data structures.

Security & Compliance

Your customer data is handled with enterprise-grade security protocols, ensuring compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and industry standards.

Migrate from greytHR to Keka with precision & ease

Why teams migrate from greytHR to Keka