Migrate from OpenCATS to Bullhorn ATS & CRM

OpenCATS Candidate records map to Bullhorn Candidate records via the Bullhorn REST API. We extract firstName, lastName, email, phone, mobile, address fields, and the Skills comma-separated tag string which migrates as a Bullhorn SkillTextEntries multi-select text field. The resume file path stored in the candidate.resume field is flagged for separate SFTP transfer; we do not embed resume BLOBs but do re-link the file path as a Candidate Attachment after Bullhorn's file ingestion. OpenCATS candidate.website, LinkedIn URL, and social media fields map to Candidate.externalID and Candidate.webUrl fields where present.

OpenCATS Job Orders map directly to Bullhorn JobOrder records. Title, description (stored as HTML in opencats.joborder.description), status, city, state, employmentType, salary, and billRate/salaryUnit map to Bullhorn JobOrder.title, description, status, address.city, address.state, employmentType, salary, and payRate. The assigned Recruiter (open_cats_recruiter_id) resolves to the Bullhorn User ownerId. JobOrder.duplicatesForLead maps to Bullhorn JobOrder.isOpen. OpenCATS job-category and industry fields map to custom picklist fields that we create in Bullhorn's Field Maps before migration.

OpenCATS Companies map to Bullhorn ClientCorporation. name, address fields, phone, fax, website, and notes map to Bullhorn ClientCorporation.name, address fields, phone, fax, url, and description. OpenCATS supports multiple departments and locations per company record; Bullhorn represents these as separate ClientCorporation branches with a parentClientCorporationId lookup. We flag multi-location companies during scoping and configure the parent-child hierarchy in Bullhorn before import.

OpenCATS Contacts (hiring managers, client contacts, Cold Call List entries) map to Bullhorn ClientContact. name, title, email, phone, department, and notes map to ClientContact.name, title, email, phone, department, and description. The parent ClientCorporationId is resolved at migration time using company name matching against the ClientCorporation import. Cold Call List membership in OpenCATS maps to Bullhorn ClientContact.customDate3 or a custom list-status picklist field.

OpenCATS Activity records (call logs, emails, meetings, notes tied to Candidates and Job Orders) map to Bullhorn Note and Task records. opencats_activity.type ('call', 'email', 'note', 'interview') determines whether the record becomes a Bullhorn Note or a Task with the appropriate TaskSubtype. The activity date becomes Task.dateAdded or Note.dateAdded. opencats_activity.submitter maps to Bullhorn OwnerId. Activity notes content migrates as Task.description or Note.description. We preserve the parent record association using Candidate and JobOrder ID lookups resolved at migration time.

OpenCATS Saved Lists store candidate membership as a join table (candidate_list_membership). We export the list name and candidate ID associations and generate a Bullhorn Candidate List definition for each Saved List, but list membership cannot be restored via the Bullhorn REST API as a bulk operation. We provide a CSV of list-to-candidate memberships for the Bullhorn admin to import via Bullhorn's native List tool or to use as a reference for rebuilding filters. List ordering and ranking do not transfer.

OpenCATS Calendar Events map to Bullhorn Event records for interview and meeting scheduling. Title, start time, end time, location, and associated Candidate or Job Order IDs migrate. Bullhorn Event records are tied to the Candidate and JobOrder via EventRelation. We do not migrate recurrence rules or reminder settings; these are not portable across ATS platforms. Events without a valid parent Candidate or JobOrder are logged as standalone Notes.

OpenCATS User accounts map to Bullhorn User records by email address. First name, last name, email, role, and active status migrate. OpenCATS role permissions (admin, full, limited, read-only, disabled) are documented as a role-mapping reference for the Bullhorn admin to configure Field Level Security and Page Layout assignments post-migration. Bullhorn User provisioning (login creation, permission sets) is done by the Bullhorn admin in the Bullhorn admin console before record migration begins.

OpenCATS stores resume files as filesystem paths (e.g., /var/opencats/resumes/123.pdf) in the candidate.resume column, not as database BLOBs. We extract all resume file paths, generate an SFTP manifest for the customer's IT team to copy the files to a Bullhorn-accessible location or upload directly to Bullhorn's document management, and then re-link each file to the corresponding Candidate record using Bullhorn's Attachment REST API. The customer must ensure file path structure is preserved during transfer.

OpenCATS community-built custom fields (stored as additional columns in the MariaDB schema, often added by individual deployments) map to Bullhorn custom fields. For straightforward scalar fields (text, date, number), we create Bullhorn custom fields via Field Maps before migration. For community extensions that define lookup relationships or multi-value fields, we map to Bullhorn Custom Objects available on Bullhorn ATS Growth (2 objects) and Enterprise (10 objects with 55 fields each). The OpenCATS custom field inventory is extracted during discovery and mapped per deployment-specific schema.

OpenCATS Cold Call Lists are a specialized Contact list type used for outreach tracking. We extract Cold Call List membership and map it to a custom status field on ClientContact (e.g., coldCallStatus or outreachStage). List-level cold call tracking notes migrate as Note records on the ClientContact. The Cold Call List name becomes a Bullhorn Candidate List for reference by the Bullhorn admin.

OpenCATS generates reports from live data using its own report engine; report definitions are not exportable artifacts. We extract the report list (report name, associated objects, filter criteria, column selections) from the MariaDB schema as a written inventory. Bullhorn's reporting suite (standard reports, advanced reporting dashboards on Enterprise) is documented as the replacement, and we provide a mapping table pairing each OpenCATS report with its nearest Bullhorn report builder equivalent for the Bullhorn admin to configure.