Migrate from Open Dental to Nutshell

Open Dental patient records map directly to Nutshell People. The PatNum is stored as Source_System_ID__c for traceability and delta-run reconciliation. First name, last name, email, phone, and address fields map 1:1. Standard demographic fields translate without transformation. Patients without an email receive a placeholder email flagging incomplete data for follow-up during the migration review phase.

Open Dental's guarantor field identifies the family head responsible for billing. We map the guarantor relationship by creating a parent-contact link in Nutshell. Non-guarantor family members become Nutshell People linked to the guarantor as parent. This preserves family grouping without requiring a separate junction object.

Open Dental appointment records become Nutshell Activities. The appointment date/time, status, provider, and procedure description migrate as a Task with original timestamp preserved. Completed appointments map as completed Tasks with completion dates set to the original appointment time; scheduled appointments map as open Tasks with due dates reflecting the upcoming appointment slot.

Open Dental procedure logs (treatment codes, tooth numbers, procedure dates, surface notations) have no native Nutshell equivalent. We create custom fields on the Nutshell Person record — Procedure_Date__c, Procedure_Code__c, Tooth_Number__c — and store the most recent procedure summary for reference. Full clinical history is preserved in a JSON blob in a long-text custom field for audit purposes.

Insurance plan carrier name, subscriber ID, effective date, and coverage percentage have no Nutshell equivalent since Nutshell lacks a native insurance module. We create Insurance_Carrier__c, Subscriber_ID__c, Insurance_Effective_Date__c, and Coverage_Percent__c custom fields on the Nutshell Person record. Subscriber relationship (self, spouse, child) maps to a dropdown custom field for clarity.

Open Dental custom patient fields (defined in Setup > Family/Insurance > Patient Field Defs) map to Nutshell custom fields on the Person entity. Field type is preserved — pick-list becomes Nutshell dropdown, checkbox stays checkbox, date stays date. New Nutshell custom fields are created during the pre-migration schema setup phase.

Open Dental payment records (payment date, amount, split allocation) cannot map to a native Nutshell object since Nutshell has no billing module. We create Last_Payment_Date__c and Last_Payment_Amount__c custom fields on the Person record to surface the most recent payment activity for reference during the transition period.

Open Dental provider names are extracted from appointment and procedure logs and stored as a Provider__c custom field on Nutshell Activities. Nutshell does not have a native provider object, so provider name is appended to the activity description rather than creating a separate provider directory.

Open Dental recall entries (next cleaning date, recall type) have no Nutshell equivalent. We create Recall_Date__c and Recall_Type__c custom fields on the Person record. Open Dental's automated recall workflow does not migrate — it must be rebuilt in Nutshell using its task automation or exported as a rebuild reference.

Open Dental patient documents (uploaded files, scanned forms, images) are downloaded from Open Dental's document storage and re-uploaded as attachments on the corresponding Nutshell Person record. File size limits and supported formats are validated against Nutshell's attachment constraints before upload.