How Stepstone Unified Global Headcount Data & Strengthened System Architecture with headcount365

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment and advisory solutions across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, and real estate. Operating across multiple countries with complex systems for managing people and data, StepStone required an integrated and compliant solution to unify its headcount planning, governance, and financial reporting.

“Headcount365’s helped us build a unified architecture for all headcount data, seamlessly linking all fields & corporate taxonomy across UKG and Greenhouse. We’ve eliminated hundreds of hours of manual tracking across disparate spreadsheets and systems, and have one unified source of truth.

Linda Lai - Stepstone Group
VICE PRESIDENT, HR OPERATIONS, SYSTEMS & ANALYTICS

headcount365’s unified headcount architecture for every stakeholder, create a single source of headcount truth across all systems without manual reconciliation

Challenges

  • Disconnected systems and fragmented data across regions created reporting delays and errors.

  • Annual headcount planning was inconsistent and manually maintained across teams.

  • Reconciliation across files, divisions, and systems consumed excessive manual hours.

Solution

  • Full-Service Implementation from headcount365, combining platform setup with advisory services from Tom leveraging his Recruiting Operations expertise.

  • Unified global data across Greenhouse, & UKG using standardized IDs and requisition mapping.

  • Redesigned system architecture and field mapping to eliminate process gaps and improve reporting accuracy.

  • Delivered stakeholder training and configuration through a streamlined, single weekly meeting cadence.

Impact & Results

Established a single source of truth for global headcount and hiring data.

  • Improved data integrity and compliance across HR systems.

  • Reduced reconciliation time from hours per week to minutes.

  • Delivered accurate, real-time reporting through unified Greenhouse<>UKG integration.

  • headcount365 enabled clean, consistent data for precise budgeting and forecasting.

Table of Contents

    Why Stepstone implemented headcount365 alongside Greenhouse and UKG

    Prior to headcount365, StepStone Group’s headcount management process was housed in disparate spreadsheets, without standardization across systems. Hiring requests were disparate and unstandardized, forcing a process of verifying information with manual tracking that was distracting and difficult to maintain records of change. Each division handled planning independently, creating mismatched data and version control issues.

    From a systems perspective, Greenhouse and UKG had different configurations, with different standard fields, inconsistent field naming, and varying user permissions. The team relied on manual reconciliations to understand actual headcount status, causing inefficiencies with reporting, and inconsistencies with FP&A forecasts.

    Key challenges included:

    • Hiring Plan Source of Truth: the team would spend 2+ days at a time reconciling approved roles from multiple spreadsheets and determining if roles were opened in Greenhouse or not.

    • Permissioned Access to Sensitive Data: Spreadsheets were used to segment information to different teams, requiring reconciliation to a “master plan” that was time consuming and error prone

    • Approvals via Email: requests & approvals would get lost in email and there was lots of back and forth with identifying the right ranges for requested headcount.

    • Reporting: gathering forecasted and actual costs related to headcount was difficult and required meeting with multiple stakeholders and using a complex expense model.

    The Stepstone team realized there was an opportunity for a solution whose unified foundation would reduce the manual work’s time & energy into a consolidated source of truth.

    headcount365 unified architecture between Greenhouse & UKG

    StepStone Group engaged headcount365’s because their implementation team is a team of ex-operators whose knowledge goes beyond software configuration and pairs headcount365’s deployment with operational consulting.

    The implementation team brought configuration options, aligned to industry best practices so we could re-architect systems, processes and the root causes of bad data. The engagement required minimal internal bandwidth. Headcount365 did the heavy lifting of presenting us options for decisions.

    The headcount365 implementation addressed the entire ecosystem:

    • UKG Integration: Unified and aligned field mappings between UKG and Greenhouse, enabling automated, reliable cross-system reporting.

    • Greenhouse Optimization: Reconfigured and streamlined workflows to reduce administrative overhead.

    • Global Data Unification: Standardized requisition identifiers and field mappings across all regions to enable consolidated reporting and analytics.

    • Process Design: Implemented approval workflows and governance structures that enforced data quality and operational discipline.

    The system now functions as a unified, compliant infrastructure with integrations that work seamlessly and generate reliable, actionable data.

    Quantifiable results from implementing headcount365 with UKG

    The professional services implementation delivered structural and operational transformation:

    • Unified Data Architecture: One global dataset connecting HR, Recruiting, and Finance.

    • Data Integrity Restored: Clean, standardized fields and mappings replaced error-prone inputs.

    • Efficiency Gains: System setup and training completed rapidly, reducing preparation time and manual effort.

    • Compliance Strengthened: Role-based access controls aligned with SOX and GDPR.

    • Operational Clarity: The team ained consistent, accurate headcount visibility for budgeting and scenario modeling.

    • Synchronized Systems: Greenhouse, UKG, and headcount365 now operate as an integrated ecosystem.

    How headcount365’s customer experience helped

    The Headcount365 implementation team, comprised of veteran headcount operators, successfully transitioned Stepstone’s environment into an operating model that delivered results. By leveraging deep industry experience, we didn't just provide a tool; we introduced a battle-tested framework of best practices. We matched unique requirements to our pre-built configurations, allowing for a rapid deployment that didn't sacrifice specificity. This approach gave the Stepstone team full autonomy to tailor the solution to their environment, ensuring the final architecture was both scalable and perfectly aligned with their intended outcomes.