Migrate from Zinc to Nutshell

Zinc candidate records map directly to Nutshell People. Every person who submitted to a reference check in Zinc becomes a Person record in Nutshell with name, email, phone, and the original employer preserved. If a candidate has no email in Zinc, the record is created with available contact fields and a missing-data flag is set.

The employer field on a Zinc candidate maps to a Nutshell Company record. If the company name matches an existing Nutshell Company, the Person is linked to it; if no match is found, a new Company record is created from the employer string. Circular or duplicate company names are flagged during the mapping audit.

Zinc check records do not have a native Nutshell equivalent. The check type, status, request date, and result score are mapped to custom fields on the associated Person record: Zinc_Check_Type__c, Zinc_Check_Status__c, Zinc_Check_Requested__c, Zinc_Check_Completed__c, and Zinc_Check_Score__c. These fields are created in Nutshell before the migration runs.

Each reference submitted through a Zinc check is created as a secondary Person record in Nutshell linked to the candidate via a People-Company association labeled as a Reference. The reference's name, email, and relationship to the candidate are preserved as contact fields and association metadata.

Zinc check statuses (pending, sent, viewed, completed, cancelled) are mapped to a Nutshell custom pick-list field. Custom statuses are reviewed for value-level mapping before migration; any unmapped values are preserved as-is with a warning flag so the admin can decide how to categorize them in Nutshell.

Zinc numerical scores attached to a completed check migrate as a Number custom field (Zinc_Check_Score__c) on the Person record. Where Zinc stores multiple scores from different references, the average score is computed and stored alongside a reference count field (Zinc_Reference_Count__c) for reporting parity.

Zinc captures the exact timestamp when each candidate record was originally created in the system. Nutshell's built-in created date only reflects when the record is inserted during migration, not the true entry date in Zinc. To preserve historical accuracy and ensure reporting continuity, the original Zinc creation timestamp is stored in a custom datetime field (Original_Created_Date__c) on each Person record. This allows your team to run date-based reports on candidate pipeline velocity using the actual submission dates from the source system.

The unique internal identifier assigned to each candidate in Zinc is preserved as a custom text field (Source_System_ID__c) on the corresponding Nutshell Person record. This field serves multiple purposes: it provides a direct traceability link back to the source record for audit purposes, enables the delta-pickup process to identify and sync only new or changed records during the cutover window, and supports post-migration reconciliation by matching record counts between Zinc exports and Nutshell inserts. The ID is set as non-editable in Nutshell to prevent accidental overwrites.

Zinc has no deal pipeline or opportunity object. Candidate records that represent prospective employees who have not yet entered a hiring pipeline are mapped to Nutshell Leads. The admin configures a default Lead source field (set to 'Zinc Migration') so these records are distinguishable in Nutshell reports.

Zinc records discrete activity events throughout the check lifecycle, including the date a check request was sent to a reference and the date the reference response was received. These timestamps represent meaningful milestones in the hiring evaluation process. During migration, each activity event is created as a Note attached to the Nutshell Person record, with the original timestamp preserved and a standardized prefix (Zinc Activity:) applied. This prefix enables the admin to apply a quick filter in the Nutshell activity timeline to surface all imported Zinc events alongside any new activities logged post-migration.

Unique employer names from Zinc candidates are de-duplicated and created as Nutshell Company records. If the same company appears across multiple Zinc candidates, a single Nutshell Company record is created and all associated Person records are linked to it via the primary Company field on People.

Where a Zinc employer record includes a company website URL, it maps to the Nutshell Company Website field. If no URL is present, the Website field is left blank and the admin can populate it from LinkedIn or a company enrichment tool post-migration.